


Total Drama Camp Catastrophe

by MrK3



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-06-10 13:24:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15292467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrK3/pseuds/MrK3
Summary: A new, diverse set of 18 teens each choose to spend their summer competing against each other in hopes of winning a grand prize of one million dollars. They must learn to live a new lifestyle and with new people while enduring gruesome challenges in order to ensure their safety. However, if a challenge is to be lost, a losing teen may end up being voted off by their fellow cabin mates and forced to leave the island, squashing their dreams of a life of luxury.





	1. Setting up Camp Pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to preface this story with a little bit of a cheesiness. I really appreciate anyone taking time to read my story. It means a lot, and criticism is not only accepted but highly valued. The first chapter is a little bit of an exposititory info dump, but I hope you can lug through it. This story is not canon, and I hope you enjoy it!

Chris McLean stands confidently on the docks of an island clothed in everything nature has to offer. Its full forests shine, and its clear lakes glimmer in the moonlight. However, neither glimmer or shine as much as Chris due to his radiant energy, or maybe his full face of makeup.

“It’s your all-time-super-favorite-beloved-and-adored host, Chris McLean, coming at you live from this super sweet private island in offshore Canada. We’re back on hot demand after several explosive and ever-so-popular seasons. Here, eighteen campers we have never seen before will arrive to compete against each other with hopes of winning our grand prize of ONE MILLION DOLLARS!” Chris narrates as he flaunts a metal suitcase packed with fat green stacks of dollar bills.

“I’m sure everyone is very aware by now how this game works: Every three days campers will compete in a challenge as a team against another team in an attempt to ensure their immunity in this game. When a team fails a challenge, they must collectively vote off one of their team members. That camper must walk the Dock of Shame and enter our new means of exit: The Castaway Canoe.” Chris says as he gestures towards the canoe, which rocks robotically up and down above the ocean waves. 

“Enough of the explaining, let’s meet our fierce competitors. These vile beasts known as teenagers are on their way right as we speak.”

. . . 

A large and brightly colored cruise ship cuts swiftly through the ocean, but the sounds of waves crashing against the sides of the ship cannot be heard over the echoing pop music being played. In the center of the boat, a DJ raves in front of a sparkling dance floor. Off to the sides are tables with treats and refreshments where people can get to know each other. Though, there’s not much socializing occurring there at the moment. Near a punch table, a small Indian girl, Tia, stands awkwardly.

“I look so lonely,” she thinks as she brushes the side of her turtleneck. “I should be talking to someone, but who?” Tia glances to the left of her to see one of her competitors, a tall, grimy looking guy, stuffing cupcakes into his pants. “Errr, no,” she thinks. Then, she peeks over to her right to see a crowd of people cheering on a brawny looking jock chugging soda. “Too popular” she mutters. Finally, she glimpses to the other punch table to see yet another unfamilar face. This time, the person she was looking at was a slim figured girl with purple dyed hair: Jade

The girl across from her files her nails and when she feels that she’s being watched, she looks up to meet Tia’s eyes. With an air of smugness, the hipster chick walks over to Tia, making Tia’s heightened anxiety feel more like an intense trainload of worry.

“Like what you see, turtleneck?” Jade asked in a teasing voice. A teasing that could have been playful or could have been condescending; Tia had no clue.

After hearing the nickname, Tia’s hands instinctively cover her neck in an act of self consciousness. “I thought it would be chillier,” she barely mutters.

“You gotta speak up, Pocahontas Jr. Is that turtleneck suffocating your vocal chords, or is it this loud, awful music?” Jade complains. “Like for real, did they make a playlist for bad SoundCloud rappers?” She chuckles to herself as she walks off. 

Once out of sight, Tia, with great embarrassment, begins to pull off her turtleneck and is about to walk away from the punch table when she runs into someone. With a weak thud, Tia staggers back, and her turtleneck falls to the ground. She looks up at the tall figure expecting some giant, angry jock, but she is met with a coltish, fair skinned guy about her height.

“Sorry, you okay?” The guy, Jerry, asks. 

Tia attempts to nod casually, but her wide eyes display her worry like a fireworks. 

“Cool turtleneck by the way,” he adds, picking it up and handing it to her. 

Tia smiles a thank you and quickly makes her exit from the embarrassing situation.

Jerry turns to face the person he had been talking to before his collision with Tia. That person happened to be Neil, a tall and dark skinned guy very athletically built. 

“Anyways, why’d you say you tried out for the show?” Jerry asks. 

“Ahhh, it’s nothing really. Just owe some money for a fine I got from a prank. Vandalism, willful destruction of property, blah blah blah,” Neil casually explains. “The prank was epic though, the guys and me had a good time.” 

“Woah, that sounds kinda serious though. How much do you owe?” 

“Oh you know, like $50,000,” Neil laughs sheepishly, however, without much remorse. 

Just then, Brittney, a curvy blond teen, staggers over. She was undeniably pretty despite the splotch of spilt punch on her dress and her disheveled hair, both results of her having too much “punch” to drink. 

“Hey,” she says to Jerry, “Can I borrow your man purse? I don’t feel so good.” Without waiting for a response, she grabs Jerry’s bag and begins to vomit inside of it.

“That’s not a man purse, that’s my insulin bag, and I kinda need it.” Jerry replies with a clear annoyance in his tone.

“Whatever,” she replies, handing it back to him without any care. Suddenly, Brittney’s face lights up, “Oooh, now I have room for cupcakes!” She is about to leave the two behind when Neil’s muscles make her do a double take. With a smirk, she dramatically falls against Neil’s side. “But I just am too lightheaded to make it there. Could you pretty please help me walk over there with your big, strong muscles?” She says in a mock childish tone.

Neil couldn’t be more overjoyed. “Y-yeah, of course!” He stammers a little off guard. Jerry is left behind as the two practically skip over to the treat table, each happy for their own reason. The treat table is covered in appetizing assortments of all kinds pies and cookies, but the most delicious delicacies are the cupcakes placed deliberately and precisely around the platforms on a tiny little figurine tower. Brittney stretchs out her arm and reaches for her soul mate, a cupcake with just the right amount of frosting, but it’s swiped away by Kira, a girl known for wearing an expressionless face and having an “I don’t care” attitude. 

“Hey, give that back, you already have three!” Brittney snaps pointing to Kira’s full hands. “That’s gonna go straight to your chunky hips. You don’t want to be a blobby girl now, do you?”

“Cupcakes are like children. I found them so their mine.” Kira responds not very bothered. Brittney is about to open her mouth, but Kira darts away before any sound comes out. Brittney let’s out a growl and lunges for Kira, but she is caught by Neil.

Brittney screams “Get back here you Hot Topic shopping—“

“Hey,” Neil interrupts, “You don’t need that cupcake, I’ve got something sweet for you.” He says smiling. 

Brittney can’t escape his endearment nor stop the smile on her face. 

Out on the dance floor and away from Brittney and Neil, Todd, a skinny and messy looking guy, is awkwardly sneaking around with his pants stuffed with cupcakes. He is almost off the dance floor where he can be alone with his treats when he runs into another contestant, a slim Korean girl wearing a ponytail and a pencil on her ear: Valerie. The collision causes Todd to let go of his pants. 

“Nooooooooo!” Todd cries as his cupcakes escape onto the floor. 

“Oh sorry,” Valerie says dropping to the floor to help pick them up. “Were you storing those for the winter?” Valerie asked in a jesting tone.

“Ha. Very funny!” Todd rebuked. As Todd scrambles to recover his cupcakes, Valerie picks up and examines one.

“Banana nut?” Valerie says. “Are you sure you’re not a squirrel?”

A few meters away from those two, Peter, a quiet, smaller guy with pale skin and bright red hair, kneels down with his sketchbook and begins sketching one of the fallen cupcakes. He’s getting lost in the movements of his pen, but when he looks up, he’s confused to see the cupcake is gone. Then, he notices Todd right in front of him holding the cupcake. 

“You know,” Todd starts. “It’s not very nice to— woah, that’s a really good drawing!” He says looking down at the sketch. 

Peter smiles a genuine thank you as a reply because he isn’t usually good with words. 

“Please,” mocks Winston, a smaller and angrier looking teen with dark hair, who couldn’t help but overhear. “You think that’s impressive? I’ve studied art for 6 years while taking piano lessons for 7 years. I run varsity track at my college because I graduated from high school two years early.” He says working on a complicated math sheet with one hand and typing on his computer with another.

“Pffft, no way,” Todd dismisses.

“Yes way,” says a distracted Winston who’s reading an unnaturally large book while carving an ice sculpture. “I also run my own business and am the mayor of my own private island community.”

Away from humble Winston and disbelieving Todd, Celia, a girl with an olive complexion and long brown hair, sits on the floor near a punch table writing studiously on a green notepad. Annalisa, a medium sized, fair skinned girl in an Overwatch tank top, approaches her with a nervous but excited smile. 

“What are you doing down there?” askes Annalisa. “Don’t you want be out dancing?”

“Yeah, I was just finishing up some homework.” Celia replies coolly.

Annalisa raises an eyebrow, “It’s summer.” 

“What can I say, I like to be ahead of the game. Now let’s go dance!” Celia says.

The two step onto the dance floor and enjoy dancing even though neither of them are particularly good at it. That is, until Annalisa begins to start sweating a noticeable amount. Celia grooves and twirls slightly off-beat, but she then catches a glimpse of Annalisa’s sweat-soaked shirt and stops.

“Woah,” She says pointing at Annalisa’s shirt. “Is that normal?”

Annalisa’s face begins to burn red. “I’m not really a super active person, I’m usually sitting around playing video games.” She pants. 

“Oh, well,” Celia responds. “You could always start going to the gym.” 

“Gym? Where?” Annalisa exclaims as she pulls out her phone. “Come on Figglyfump, let’s go!” Annalisa races off the dance floor looking looking at her phone leaving Celia puzzled. With her eyes glued to her phone, Annalisa can’t see Donna, a large and muscular African American woman with short hair, standing in her collision course. The two collide, but it’s pretty one sided as Annalisa falls down, and Donna doesn’t budge an inch.

“Woah there,” says Donna quite startled. “Is that your way of saying hello?”

“No, sorry,” responds Annalisa. She is then able to truly get a good look at Donna. “Woah, you’re so ripped you could be my mom!”

“What?”

“It’s true,” says Astrid, a girl with an athletic build (though not even comparable to Donna) and long red hair. “Minus the weird mom thing. You have to be a pretty hardworking and dedicated person to achieve that physique.”

“Aww thanks,” says Donna blushing. “You guys are too kind.”

Away from aforementioned group of ladies, Matthew, a skinny and pale guy with thick glasses and messy dirty-blond hair, is trying to motivate himself onto the dance floor. But the music is so loud, and he doesn’t want to be any closer to it. All he can think about is the music flattening the tiny hair cells in his ears. He tells himself not to think about it, but he can’t stop. He wants to go out and have fun, he really does, but he just can’t build up his confidence to act normal which consequently lowers his confidence more. 

“Argh!” Matthew cries out and, without thinking, kicks over a garbage can to ease his rage. The garbage can crashs over with a thunk and travels farther than expected, hitting another contestant: Henry. Henry, a farmboy built buff and barrel chested, is startled by the blow and falls forwards. Matthew zips under a cupcake table to hide in shame. 

“Ouch!” says Henry as the guy he was taking to, Kyle, helps him up. “They don’t have magical rolling trash cans back at the ol’ farm.” He says scratching his head.

“Dude that came about out of nowhere!” says Kyle, a guy with a wrestler’s physique. “On a dare, I once rolled down a mountain wrapped in a mattress. That was the second time I broke my collarbone.”

“You got quite the eventful life, frien’” 

“Chug, chug, chug!” Kyle and Henry turn to see Brad, a big jock wearing a football jersey, holding a two liter pop bottle up to his mouth and chugging it down. A small crowd of people surround him and are egging on his antics.

“This is his sixth one!” someone says. 

“So epic!” says another person. 

The party goes on. Music plays, people dance and eat. Mostly everyone on the boat is enjoying the themself, but that soon comes to an abrupt stop.

“Attention campers!” calls a friendly, yet keenly strict voice. Everyone falls silent and turns to see a large woman with a larger than life presence. She wears a friendly, loose-fitting “Camp Counselor” shirt, but her face and the tone of her voice carry a seriousness that dares anyone to interrupt her. “We are about to arrive at the island. This is where you will stay for up to 7 weeks. But you know that already. However, you do not know me.” She steps forward and gazes into the crowd, locking eyes with contestants who immediately look down much this woman’s pleasure. “I am Counselor Diana. I am here thanks to some past contestants that proved that supervision is necessary to make sure this island doesn’t explode. Literally” She smiles. 

She drops the hint of friendliness in here voice. “I will be watching over you in order to ensure you are not breaking any rules. Hopefully, you won’t have to see me again. But misbehave, and I will make sure you never make the same mistake again. Ever. 

She replasters the smile onto her face. “Now are you guys ready to have some fun?” She doesn’t wait for a response. “It’s time we head to the island. There are eighteen of you and ten canoes on the side of the ship. I will take one, and the rest of you will each enter a canoe, drop down, and paddle towards the island in pairs. This boat is about to make a U-turn. I would suggest moving quickly.” Counselor Diana turns around and enters a canoe, and, in a split second, she’s gone. 

The campers begin to digest the situation, and everyone begins to look for their partner. Valerie and Todd make eye contact, and, without a word, hop into a canoe. Neil and Brittney, who are already making out with each other, crawl into a boat, drop down, and, between long, passionate kisses, row towards the island.

Tia shakes and quivers at the idea of having to ask someone to be her partner, but is fortunately spared of that by Jade, who drags her in a canoe and says, “We’re going together,” without leaving Tia any time to argue. Astrid and Donna hop in a boat and begin rowing. They cut quickly through the water thanks to both Donna and Astrid’s strength.

Brad picks up Jerry onto his shoulder, much to Jerry’s dismay, and says. “Come on little dude, let’s go!” The two drop down into the cold night. Near their canoe, Matthew enters a canoe hoping to sneak out alone. He’s about to untie the rope when he turns to see Kira toe-to-toe with him. Matthew sighs and let’s Kira enter.

Still on the boat, Henry and Kyle are glad to work together and head into a canoe. However, Winston let’s out a long, exaggerated sigh before entering a canoe with Peter.

Annalisa watches them drop, and then turns to Celia. “I guess that leaves just us. Huh? Celia what are you doing?”

“My notes!” Celia cries frantically. “I need them.” She’s throwing around tables looking for them. Unfortunately, the two don’t have much time left. 

Annalisa has the wind knocked out of her as she lurches to the side of the boat. “We have to go! We’re turning around!” She climbs into the final canoe.

“Found them!” Celia cries and, without a moment to spare, dives into the canoe with Annalisa. The rope connecting the canoe to the boat comes undone, and the two drop into the vast, frigid ocean with a splash. Celia and Annalisa begin to calm down after the tense situation and begin the long row to the island. 

“It’s a beautiful night,” says Annalisa lost in the stars. “I think this is gonna be great.”

. . . 

Chris stands on the dock with Counselor Diana at his side. He looks on as the canoe’s begin to appear on the horizon. “It looks like our campers are almost here!” Chris’s narrates. “And our first two campers are...” A canoe knocks against the dock. “Donna and Astrid!” The two girls jump up and down and squeal knowing they are the first to arrive. “You are both Team A”

“Next to arrive... Tia and Jade. Welcome you two, you’re Team B.”

Jade flashes Tia an already all-to-familiar smirk. “Wow turtleneck, you row like a champ.”

Chris greets the following canoes one at a time and places them on their team. “Congratulations Valerie and Todd, you are on Team A. Brad and Jerry, Team B. Neil and Brittney, Team A. Henry and Kyle, Team B. Peter and Winston, Team A. Matthew and Kira, Team B.” All of the contestants stand together, some are still panting from the unexpected workout while some attempt interact with one another with small talk. Though Neil and Brittney don’t do much talking as they do kissing. Team A uncomfortably averts their eyes from the two passionately kissing on top of each of other. 

“Well it looks like all the contestants are here, and you’ve all had time to get to know each other...” Chris glances at Neil and Britney. “And what some of your teammates faces taste like. Now let’s—“

“Wait! We’re here!” Annalisa shouts up to Chris from her canoe. Celia and Annalisa climb aboard the dock.

“Oh yeah! Let’s not forget Celia and Annalisa. To make teams even, Celia, you are on Team A, and Annalisa, you’re on Team B.”

“Team A and Team B?” Celia asks. “Usually the team names are a little more creative than that.”

“Well aren’t you a smart little cookie?” Chris said. “Official team names will be given in the first challenge which starts very soon. But first, welcome to the island. We were lucky enough to purchase this private island at a great price. While the island may be new, we still have our classic cabins, campfires, and confessionals. Now let’s start are first challenge.”

The campers look at the island eagerly. Everyone is ready to start the first challenge.

Chris turns to face the camera “Find out what gruesome and hilarious moments our first challenge entails in the next episode of Total, Drama, Camp Catastrophe!”


	2. Setting up Camp Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick! There’s no time to unpack! Our two teams have been made, and the first challenge has begun. Knowing any of them could be the first one out, the campers try hard to quickly to learn to work together and conquer their first challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks to you awesome drama lovers for reading this. It means the world.
> 
> Here’s a current list of teams (It will be updated every chapter)
> 
> Team A: Astrid, Brittney, Celia, Donna, Neil, Peter, Todd, Valerie, Winston.
> 
> Team B: Annalisa, Brad, Henry, Jade, Jerry, Kira, Kyle, Matthew, Tia

Chris enthusiastically waves to the camera and says, “Welcome to another episode of Total Drama Camp Catastrophe. Last time, our new campers began to get to know each other along their way to the island. Unfortunately, that was interrupted when we decided that having the boat dock regularly wouldn’t be exciting enough. Campers canoed quickly through the cold ocean and were placed on teams. Now, without anytime to unpack, we’re about to start the first challenge here on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”

Chris turns to the campers with a grin on his face. “Now, for Part One of the challenge. I will need one member from each team to step forward,” Chris pauses. “Right now.”

Team A came to a quick agreement that Donna was the team’s best athlete. She stepped forward confidently, ready to show everyone what she’s made of. However, Team B did not come to an immediate decision. 

“But I reeaaally want to do it,” whined Kyle.

“Me and Henry are the most athletic people here,” said Brad. “and I volunteer myself.”

“Umm,” Tia said anxious about butting in. “Since we’re near the dock, we’re probably swimming, and I’ve been a competitive swimmer for—“

“Sorry little girl, but the other team’s girl is massive,” said Brad. He turned to Chris. “I’m going,” he said stepping forward.

“Alright campers,” Chris explained. “As Celia pointed out, your team names are not actually going to be Team A and Team B. In this challenge, you will be acquiring your official team mascot and name. Please note, your mascot will be important in the second part of tonight’s challenge.” 

Chris looked out into the ocean. “We have placed buoys in the ocean at various distances from the docks. Each buoy has an animal name carved into its bottom. When I say go, you will both jump into the water, take a buoy from one of the zones, and bring it back to the docks. The First Zone, the area with the buoys closest to the dock, contains some not-so-impressive animal mascots, but it will be simple to grab a buoy from there as there is nothing in the water. Next we have the Second Zone, a zone filled with decently awesome animal mascots, but is it worth the risk? Sargo fish, known for their tendency to bite, swim in the Second Zone. Finally, in our third zone, the epic mascots can be found guarded by an army of jellyfish.” Chris begins to laugh, “Fun fact, some jellyfish stings can kill you in only three minutes.” Everyone gulped. 

Chris pulled out an air horn, and Brad and Donna immediately got into position to dive in. “Ready, set, go!” The two were off the dock before the air horn went off. The water was frigid, but the adrenaline running through the two pushed them to swim faster. Each competitor was being cheered on by their respective team. Ambitiously, Donna had set her sights on a Third Zone buoy and nothing could deter her. Brad, not wanting to be one upped, headed to the Third Zone as well.

Though, the swim became a lot different in the Second Zone. Donna was powering through until a sargo fish swam over to her waist. She caught sight of it too late to stop what it was about to do.

“OUCH!” Donna shrieked as she stopped swimming. “It bit my butt!”

~ Confessional: Donna 

“I just went from vegetarian to pescatarian.”

~ Confessional ends

On the dock, a few contestants let out giggles. Knowing they aren’t in any danger, they begin to joke around.

“Holy shrimp, this scampi happening,” Jade giggled.

“She cod not have had it worse,” Henry said nudging her.

“Don’t listen to them Donna, you got this!” shouts Astrid. 

Back in the water, Brad is almost into the Third Zone when he is stopped by the searing pain of fish bite in the place that hurts the most.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH” Brad screams.

Henry frowns. “This is not going very whale,” he says.

~ Confessional: Brad

Tears are seen in Brad’s eyes, and he let’s out a soft sniffle.

~ Confessional ends.

While Brad is in too much pain to keep swimming, Donna is back to business, and she arrives quickly into the Third Zone. She switches to a cautious and slow pace around the jellyfish. Paddling quietly, she is able to grab the nearest buoy. Unfortunately, Donna turns around to see the path she had just swam was now blocked by a line of jellyfish. The translucent creatures begin to circle her in. Panic begins to set. All Donna can do is wrap herself around her buoy. 

Sweat trickles down her forehead. “I guess I’ll just play the waiting game, heh.” She says.

Near the dock, Brad hovers in the water still recovering from the bite. The waves had pushed him all the way back into the First Zone. Brad sucks in a breath and prepares to go back into the Second Zone. He decides to swim slowly in an attempt to not disturb the fish.

“Heh,” He said too soon. “It’s working.” Then, the same burning pain erupts in the same tender spot. Everyone on the dock cringes. “OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH” He cried.

Donna is riding the waves slowly towards the Second Zone when her buoy hits a rock. It tips over and hits the water bringing Donna down with it. She emerges from the water coated in jellyfish.

“Gfffft Dwwwwn FFFFFuuu Mehhh!” Donna yells with an extra large jellyfish in her face. She enters the Second Zone only to be wrapped in a second layer of biting fish.

Near the docks, Brad resolves to grabbing a buoy in the First Zone and never setting foot in the ocean again. He heaves the buoy up on the dock and climbs up himself.

Chris is yucking it up as he says, “Brad has grabbed the buoy for Team B, or as they now will be known as...”

The team couldn’t have been more disappointed at the sound of their name.

“The Raggedy Rats,” Jerry says.

“Wow, things are looking great for Part Two,” says Kira.

“Made it!” says Donna pulling herself onto the dock with her buoy. Her team gives her a round of applause for her strength. 

~ Confessional: Donna

All I wanted to do was establish that I deserve to be on the team, now I shouldn’t have to do too much in Part Two.”

~ Confessional ends

“Donna has retrieved a Zone 3 buoy,” Chris said, “giving her team the title of...”

Astrid lifted up the buoy in triumph. “The Loyal Lions,” she exclaimed. The team erupts in cheers for themselves. The Rats roll their eyes. 

“Now we may begin Part Two of tonight’s challenge. Part Two is for the win, so whichever team loses will be seeing me at the campfire. Now, I need my beauty rest before the ceremony, so, Counselor Diana, take it away.” Chris says. Then, he leaves the competitors with the lady they had almost forgot was there.

Now with an eager audience, Counselor Diana confidently rose to the spotlight. “Let’s have some fun!” She said in a cheery voice. “Most camps teach the important skill of learning to take care of and live with animals. What better way to teach you guys that than to have your own pets to look after this summer?” 

“Ugh,” says Brittney. “I hate dogs. And cats. And hamsters. And bunnies. And birds—“

“Don’t interrupt me, dear,” Counselor Diana snarled which took Brittney by surprise. “Anyways, this island is known for having many living creatures on it. All of which were put on the buoys floating in the water. Your first challenge is to hunt down your mascot in the wild and bring it back to your cabin. First team back wins.”

“What?” Winston complains. “Donna went through all that just to make the challenge harder for us!” 

“All Chris said is that the mascot you pick will affect the challenge, and it does. Now, if I see you sabotaging other teams, throwing the challenge, or physically harming any other contestant, you will have to deal with me.” She cracks her knuckles. “Other than that, have fun. Ready, set, go!” 

The Raggedy Rats head over to Chef’s kitchen where a rat most likely is. Suspiciously, Chef doesn’t seem to be around. Without opposition, the team breaks into Chef’s kitchen and begin scouring the room for a little rodent.

“I guess it wasn’t so terrible that I got us a rat as our mascot.” Brad says trying to make his failure to look like a triumph. 

“Wow, you want a pat on the back for being a total wuss five minutes ago?” Kira surprises everyone by saying.

Jerry and Tia look at each other nervously feeling the tension build up in the air. Jade, who is not so nervous, turns towards the action with a bag of popcorn.

“Oh sorry princess, but I didn’t see you in the freezing water being bitten by killer fish,” Brad spat.

“Bite me,” Kira says.

The two glare at each other. Then, as if nothing happened, they each go back to searching for the rat, granted very far away from one another.

Matthew pretends to search the cupboards for the rat, but all he can think about is aspergillosis. He was sure he saw mold over in the corner, and the last thing he wants is a fungal disease reproducing in the pockets of his lungs. While no one is watching, Matthew sneaks out of the kitchen and heads outside.

His therapist had told him hundreds of times to just go outside and focus on something else to ease his compulsions. Though, like every other time, he couldn’t stop the thoughts in his head. Why did he think he could do this?

“What are you doing out here?”

The hairs on Matthew’s skin jump as he turns to see Kira glancing nonchalantly as if she didn’t really care.

“I just needed some fresh air,” Matthew lied.

“Really?” Kira asked. “You seemed really fidgety at the dock. You sure you’re alright?”

“Oh well, um, it’s no big deal, but I kinda have this thing called—“

“OCD?” Kira asked. 

“Yeah actually, I know it’s weird and really stupid but—“

“You’re not weird. It’s okay.” Kira stated with maybe a hint of emotion in her voice. “Look, I’m going to tell the others that you went off chasing a rat into the woods. Just chill somewhere else dude. I won’t tell.” She walks back into the kitchen, but before disappearing through the door she gives him some encouragement. 

“You can do this,” She says.

. . .

Deep in the forest, the loyal lions are combing through every cave they come by. Their spirits begin to fall, and the team members seem to be more concerned about deciding who to vote off rather than winning. Astrid desperately wants to turn around the situation. 

~Confessional: Astrid

“Every team has a leader, and I’m the only one who has what it takes to be that leader. By motivating and reassuring my team, I know we can win this!” Astrid said excitedly.

~ Confessional ends.

“We got this team!” Astrid says. “If we’re fast, efficient, and well coordinated, we will win this challenge!” 

“Yeah,” Donna says. “You’re right. Let’s go Lions!” A few people chin up at the pep talk and begin searching a little harder. 

However, Celia still remains more focused on the vote rather than the challenge.

~ Confessional: Celia.

Celia smirks, “I’ve been watching reality TV since I was a four. I’ve taken countless notes, and I know I have the brains to win. We are obviously not going to find a lion, so I need to ensure my safety. The best way to do that is to form bonds with my fellow teammates immediately.” 

~ Confessional ends.

Even though the sky is dark, Celia is able to see Valerie and notices she is searching by herself. She walks over, and she forces a friendly, cheery face.

“Hey! I’m Celia. You look really cute with that pencil in your ear. What’s the story behind that?”

“Oh thanks,” said Valerie a little off guard. “I’m Valerie. I’m an aspiring writer; I have the pencil just in case I need to write down any ideas.”

“That is SO interesting!” Celia said as they continued chatting while they searched. 

Around the corner, Peter and Winston were looking out on the island from a tree. Though he’d never admit, Winston was following Peter because he enjoyed bragging to him.

“Yeah, I sold one of my sculptures for $700.” Winston said. “How about you?”

Peter rolled his eyes.

Walking by, Celia and Valerie pass the two up in the tree. Celia took note of the two of them together. 

“Psssst, Valerie.” Celia whispered.

“What’s up?”

“I think the two of them might be talking about who they’re voting.”

“You might be right. We need a plan. Who are you thinking of voting?”

Celia smiled deviously. “That Winston guy is pretty annoying, I think if we convince Astrid, Donna, and Mr and Mrs Makeout to vote for him, we’re definitely safe.” That’s exactly what they do. Celia and Valerie are able to convince Donna and Astrid with ease, but neither of them can find Neil or Brittney. 

A kilometer away, the giggling Neil and Brittney look for some place more private to be together. They enter a cave and lay down on the floor.

“You’re so hot. For real,” Neil said.

Brittney giggled and pulled Neil closer. She ran her fingers through his hair as they started to makeout yet another time. Then, a large snore echoes through the cave.

“What was that?” Brittney says turning around and looking deeper into the cave. “Oh my.” She whispered.

A whole family of lions were sprawled everywhere around the cave. There was also a noticeable amount of blood splattered on the walls. They found the source, or previous source, of that blood: a rotten deer carcass that reeked foully. Brittney turned to Neil. 

“Still wanna makeout?”

. . .

In the kitchen, little to no headway has been made. However, no one is upset as they all know there is no way the other team will find a lion, so some campers try to socialize. Still, Tia adamantly continues to search. Annalisa looks over at Tia, and when Tia looks up, Annalisa glances back down at the floor.

~ Confessional: Annalisa

“I don’t really have many friends at home... at all, but I think with a fresh start I could have so many cool friends. I just need the right opportunity to talk to them.”

Tia, searching through the cupboards, is moving around empty cans trying to find anything that can help the team when she knocks over a full can of spaghetti. With a splat, squishy sauce and meat ooze from the can. Tia couldn’t have been more mortified.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll clean it up.” She said, sure in her mind that her whole team hated her.

“Wait, you just might have found something useful. We can use the food to lure a rat.” Annalisa said giving Tia a smile. “Good going.”

“And I found some cookie dough,” says Brad chewing on the frozen goodness. He’s met with blank stares. “What?”

The team heads outside. There, they place the meat on the ground in an open area. The Raggedy Rats head behind trees and begin the wait. Henry and Kyle are ready to spring into action when the time comes. Half an hour passes, and the two begin to grow tired. Brad let’s out a yawn and puts his hand in his cookie dough bag only to feel something soft and fuzzy.

“A RAT!!!” He shouts throwing it unintentionally directly at Jerry’s face. 

“AHHHH!” Jerry screams. “Huh? I caught it,” he says holding up the rat. The rat gives Jerry a vicious look. Jerry tries to give the rat a smile. Then, the rat lets out a hiss and plants his teeth sharply into Jerry’s hand. “Owwww!” Jerry cries as he drops the rat. The rat darted off into the forest out of sight. Everyone let out a sigh of disappointment.

“After it!” Henry says trailing the rat. The group begins to run into the night, but after only 800 meters, Annalisa slows down immensely.

“Keep going guys! Don’t wait up for me.” She says as she sits down to take a breather. Once out sight, Annalisa can’t help the few tears that force their way out. “Ugh,” she says disappointed and ashamed. “I’m s-so terrible.” She lays her head down on the ground and her lack of sleep finally hits her as she dozes off. 

. . . 

Todd is scavenging through the forest which is not an unusual thing for him to be doing. In New York, the only way for Todd to survive is to hustle. That can sometimes mean faking an ID to get a job or spend the day looking for leftovers in the dumpster. However, what is unusual for Todd is having a bunch of people working with him as his “team”. Todd knows better. These people will cheat and trick him. He’s looking for any signs of a lion when he hears someone.

“Hey skinny boy,” his teammate Neil said in a whisper-shout. Todd turns around towards Neil and his blond girlfriend. What could he possibly want?

“We found the lions!” He whisper shouts.

“Really?” Todd says as they motion him into the cave. Todd can’t believe his eyes. Counselor Diana wasn’t kidding when she said all of the animals were on the island. Eventually, the other Loyal Lions are drawn to the cave 

Astrid immediately took charge of the situation. “We need to think of a safe and efficient way to wake up and lure one lion to our cabin.” She looked at her teammates. “Ideas?”

Todd had an idea, but he knew he didn’t need the team’s help. “That lion seems to really love his deer food. If I grab some of that deer meat, he’ll wake up and chase me all the way back to the cabin.”

“I like your thinking,” Astrid said. “But realistically, you won’t be able to outrun that lion. As a team, we should— Todd what are you doing?”

Todd pulled a gross chunk of meat, and, as planned, the lion woke up and fiercely lept after Todd with a nimble pounce. Todd ran faster then he ever had before, but the cabin was still far away. He was losing energy fast, and the lion was getting closer. Todd closed his eyes and kept on running. 

. . .

The Raggedy Rats found themselves in the forest. They even met up with Matthew who played along with his lie saying the rat he chased got away. No one really bothers to question his story.

Brad, Kyle, and Henry had lost sight of the rat, so they resorted to talking strategy. Brad, noticing Matthew and Jerry over by themselves, motioned the two over. 

“If we lose, we have to vote out that girl back there,” Brad says.

“Yeah,” Jerry says. “She seems nice, but she just isn’t made for this kind of game.”

“Exactly,” says Brad. “The dudes are going all the way.”

Over in the thick grass, Tia is crawling looking for the rat. She looks to the left when she hears something rustling. Tia, bracing herself to come face-to-face with the rat, grabs at the creature. She pulls it to her, but it doesn’t feel like a rat. Instead, it’s long and slimy.

“Snake!” She cries about to throw it. Then, Jade pops out from the side.

“Gotcha!” She says grabbing her fake snake and shaking it around. Tia noticed that her team members are all looking at her and some are giggling. Embarrassed, she rushes off away from her team.

“Whoops,” said Jade.

~ Confessional: Jade

“I wasn’t trying to embarrass her; I just wanted to lighten the mood. Poor girl is so sensitive.”

~ Confessional ends

Near the cabin, Annalisa is woken up by Tia tripping over her.

“Oh my gosh. Are you okay?” said Annalisa. She then notices the tears on Tia’s face. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“No, it’s not you.” Tia says wiping her eyes. She sits down looking at her feet.

“Well, what is it?”

“I just feel like everyone on this team doesn’t want me here. Henry, Kyle, and Brad are already best friends, Kira is totally digging Matthew, I feel awkward around Jerry and Matthew, and Jade thinks I’m some big loser. Why would any of them want to be my friend?”

“I know how you feel,” said Annalisa. “I went on this show to make friends. I’ve been bullied every day since the 5th grade, and it’s terrible.” She admits quietly.

“I’m sorry,” is all Tia can say.

“It’s not your fault.” Annalisa pauses. “And, by the way, I think you’re really cool. You’re like working way harder than everybody to find that stupid rat.” She says. 

Annalisa begins laying her head down. Instead of meeting the soft ground, her head hits something small and fuzzy.

“The rat!” Annalisa shouts, startling Tia, as she grabs it. Hearing the commotion the Raggedy Rats come over. In a familiar situation, the rat begins to bite and scratch at Annalisa’s hands. She cringes as she begins to bleed, but she is not deterred.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll bring it to our cabin, we’re so close to it.” She begins to run hoping to impress her team by working hard.

. . .

Todd can see the cabin, but he knows deep down he won’t make it. He begins to accept that he is about to become a snack.

“Todd!” says Valerie, who Todd is surprised to see right in front of the cabin. She must have taken a shortcut. “You don’t need to do this on your own. Throw the meat to me.”

“No, I can do this!” Todd lies.

Valerie turns her head to see Annalisa rushing towards the other cabin. “Todd, you have to trust me. I promise I won’t let you down.”

Todd looks to see Valerie’s pleading eyes. “Catch it Valerie!” Todd hurls the meat right to Valerie and collapses to the ground exhausted.

Valerie is able to catch the gross heap of meat despite its slipperiness. She holds it out in front of her taunting the lion who set his sights on her in an instant. She needs the lion to beat Annalisa who’s on the steps of the other cabin. Unafraid of the deadly consequences, Valerie opens her mouth and pretends to bite into the meat. The lion pounces towards Valerie who immediately throws the meat into the cabin and dives into the safety of the bushes.

“The Loyal Lions win!” Counselor Diana exclaims. 

Valerie walks over and helps Todd up. “Thanks for trusting me teammate.” She says smiling.

“That was awesome!” Todd said in awe.

“Yeah,” said Valerie, “It’s the kind of thing I could only imagine happening in a book.”

Counselor Diana congratulated the Loyal Lions and helped them settle in as the Raggedy Rats stood, left with only each other.

“God, Annalisa! We were so close. Why’d you have to go and mess it all up,” Brad tells her.

Annalisa feels like she’s in all too familiar situation. Brad’s just like all the other guys at her school. Smarter, stronger, and better. She shouldn’t try to do things she wasn’t capable of. She deserves everything he tells her.

“If you only handed it to me—“

“Can it, buttwad.” Jade says helping Annalisa up and wiping some of the blood off her hands. “She got attacked by that stupid thing because she was trying to win this for us, and you yell at her?”

Annalisa finds the courage to raise her head and look up from the ground to see that Jade, Tia, and even Kira were all standing around her and helping her. Tia begins to help clean Annalisa’s wound. 

“That was amazing,” said Tia. “You kept running while it did all this?” Tia gestures towards the many deep cuts and bites on Annalisa’s hand and forearms.

“Yeah,” Annalisa half-laughs. “It was pretty cool wasn’t it.”

“Not gonna lie, you’re awesome,” said Kira.

“Campers,” says Counselor Diana interrupting the deep moment. “It’s time for you to vote out one of your own teammates. Please meet Chris at the campfire.” 

They begin walking when Tia pulls Jerry off to the side.

“Jerry, I heard you and the guys talking about voting off Annalisa, but she doesn’t deserve to go home. Brad does. I know we haven’t really talked, but please him out.”

“Look, I know he’s kind of a jerk, but I told the guys I would vote her. I don’t want to go back on my word.”

“Jerry, please. It’s the right thing to do.”

Jerry wants to tell her yes, but he can’t make that promise. “I’ll seriously consider it.”

“Well hurry up you two,” Chris called from the campfire. “We have this thing called a twenty-two minute episode time.” 

. . .

All the campers sit on logs around the campfire looking tired. Chris, never looking tired for the camera, smiles eerily. His face is bathed in the spooky glow of the campfire as he begins the first elimination of the season. 

“Welcome Rats, to your first, and definitely not your last, elimination ceremony. You have all casted your votes. When I call out your name, you can come and receive a marshmallow. That marshmallow represents your safety in this game. However, the camper who does not receive a marshmallow must quickly say goodbye, walk the Dock of Shame, and leave the island in the Castaway Canoe.” Chris explained, finally enjoying his camera time. “Now let’s begin.”

“First marshmallow... Kira.” She retrieved her marshmallow and ate it without much of a reaction. 

“Next, Kyle and Jade.” The two high five as they go up and eat their marshmallows.

“Tia and Jerry.” Jerry heads up and eats his marshmallow. Tia grabs Annalisa’s hand to reassure her before going up and getting her marshmallow.

“Henry and Matthew.” Relieved, the two excitedly grab their treats.

“It’s down to you Brad and you Annalisa. Annalisa, you’re not exactly a top-notch competitor. Brad, you’re not exactly a top-notch teammate.”

“Last marshmallow goes to...”

Brad and Annalisa look at each other. Brad smirks and Annalisa glares.

A long pause is drawn out by Chris for dramatic effect.

“Annalisa”

She jumps up from her log and gets her marshmallow. She doesn’t eat it until she can express her gratitude by hugging the whole team.

“Brad,” Chris says. “It’s time to leave.”

“I don’t know which one of you flipped,” Brad spits out angrily as he stands up. “But you’re gonna regret it. Bye jerks.” He hops into the canoe, and, without looking back, paddles away.

Chris smiles at the remaining teens. “Campers, enjoy your marshmallows. You are all safe. For now.” Chris walked away, leaving the tired Rats with their marshmallows. 

“With one elimination down, things have just started getting serious. Find out who dramatically exits next time on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much. How do you feel about Brad being the first one to go? Would you have voted the same as Jerry? Leave your answers in the comments!


	3. Red Flags

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the campers are given a few days to settle in, they begin to notice some major red flags. Literally. In a game of Capture the Flag, the two teams vie for safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice! You made it to Chapter 3. I feel like this is where I’m able to have a good amount of time for character development (which is my favorite part of writing).
> 
> Thanks for reading and here’s an updated list of teams.
> 
> Loyal Lions: Astrid, Brittney, Celia, Donna, Neil, Peter, Todd, Valerie, Winston.
> 
> Raggedy Rats: Annalisa, Henry, Jade, Jerry, Kira, Kyle, Matthew, Tia.
> 
> Eliminated: Brad

Chris McLean, wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt, waves to the camera eagerly. “Welcome back to Total Drama Camp Catastrophe. Last time, each team sent one of their own into biting fish and stinging jellyfish infested waters to get their team name. One team name was good, one was not. Then, the two teams went hunting for their mascot, and the Loyal Lions emerged victorious. Due to Brad’s harsh words to Annalisa, the girls and Jerry were able to turn the tables and send him home. Things are going to get ugly in today’s competition, so find out who goes home here on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe.” 

. . .

It was 5:30 in the morning on the day after the first challenge, and, purely out of habit, Henry is out of bed. He’s not at home, so there’s no chores to do, animals to feed, or crops to care for, but he wants to get out of the cabin. He’s feeling very uncomfortable after Brad’s elimination. Not voting in the majority, he might be the next person to go. Being as quiet as possible, he tiptoes out of the cabin. He’s about down the stairs when someone whispers to him.

“Henry? Is that you? What are you doing?” It was Annalisa in the girl’s side of the cabin.

“I’m used to waking up early, why are you up?”

“Trouble sleeping. Can I come with you?” Henry is a little hesitant. He doesn’t want to have to look after her. The girl can’t do a pull up to save her life. Though, to avoid being rude, Henry says yes.

Henry isn’t really sure what to say while walking with her, so he suggests doing something he had in mind.

“I was going to try to fish out on the docks. Want to do that?”

“Sure,” Annalisa says. “How hard could that be?”

The two arrive on the docks where they stood just last night. They fish in silence which proves to be awkward because neither of them are catching any fish. Bored, Henry is about to suggest heading back when Annalisa yelps in surprise. 

“I got one!” She shouts excitedly as she reels in the line, but it is clear she is not winning the battle with the fish. She’s struggling; her arms are aching from the pulling. She’s about to let go when Henry steps in.

“I’ve got you,” he says as he reels the fish in. “That was a big one,” he tells her holding up the flopping creature. Annalisa compliments him on a good job, but he can see there’s a little bit of disheartenment in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I should be able to reel in a stupid fish by myself,” Annalisa answers. She sits down on the dock and turns her head away from Henry and to the ocean. “I’m just so embarrassingly weak. How are you so strong?”

“It takes hard work. Along with doing chores, I workout every single day.”

“Can you help make me stronger?”

Henry is a bit taken back by the question. He doesn’t know how to train anyone, but he can’t let down his teammate.

“Sure. Let’s start now.” 

They start by doing push-ups. Henry is able to do them easily, but he notices Annalisa struggling after a few.

“Go onto your knees now.”

“I’m not going to do weak push-ups.”

“They’re called modified push-ups. You need to build up your strength. We have to start somewhere.”

She reluctantly complies, and they finish up push-ups.

“Is that it?” Annalisa pants, exhausted and ready to go back to bed.

“Nope.”

Through the crisp morning, the two squat, plank, and lunge while everyone else sleeps. Annalisa is about ready to quit. She’s hot, sweaty, and aching. She know she’s definitely not cut out for this.

“Come on,” Henry said. “One last thing, a run around the island.” He helps her to her feet. “You’ve made it this far. You got this.”

The two take off jogging. Annalisa is huffing, her sides ache, and she has never felt a more horrible feeling in her lungs, but she begins to feel truly alive. They pass trees and beautiful lakes, all things that looked even prettier in the morning. Unfortunately, Annalisa’s weariness begins to take over and she starts slowing down.

“We’re almost there,” Henry says as the cabins come into view. With a burst of energy, Annalisa sticks with Henry until they’re in front of their cabin where she collapses.

Henry takes a seat next to her as she pants. “You did awesome, and it’s going to get easier every time you do it. But you have to come out and do it with me everyday.”

“I will,” Annalisa says between deep breaths. “And thanks. For everything.” 

Henry smiled and went inside the cabin to rest.

. . .

In the Loyal Lions cabin, most every girl was asleep. Except Valerie. Valerie was writing in her journal. Flowing with emotions, Valerie found it very easy to write a lot. She’s relieved she won the challenge and didn’t go home. She’s proud she took on a lion. She’s nervous that her team might have too high expectations of her now. Of all her feelings, the strongest emotion was pure happiness.

“Do you mind? Some of us want to look good for the camera,” Brittney said grumpily.

“How is me writing waking you up?”

“Its not just your writing. It’s those stupid “ooohs” and “ahhhs” you make.”

“Sorry that writing takes thought, and have you considered that maybe your snoring—“

“Girls!” said Donna from her bed. “We can’t be arguing this early in the game. Us girls are the majority on our team, if we work together, we’re all guaranteed safety for at least four eliminations.”

“A girls alliance? That sounds awesome!” says Astrid across the room.

Celia in her bed could not be more overjoyed.

~ Confessional: Celia.

“All girls alliances don’t usually work because of the cattiness and mistrust. I can use that to purposely form cracks in the group as we target the boys. The other girls will target each other while I stay safe until merge.”

~ Confessional ends.

“That sounds amazing,” says Celia, “but we need a team leader. Someone strong and intimidating,” she looks at Donna, “and responsible and accountable.” Celia glances at Astrid. “Who should it be?”

Celia smiles as Astrid and Donna both open their mouths to volunteer. Then, they hear an unexpected voice.

“Me, obviously,” says Brittney. 

~ Confessional: Astrid

“I really wanted to be the alliance leader, but I didn’t want to come off as bossy.”

~ Confessional: Donna

“I would have been a great leader; Brittney isn’t responsible enough to shave her nasty legs.” 

~Confessional ends.

“Well then it’s settled,” said Celia a little surprised when no one objects.

Over on the guys side of the same cabin, everyone is awake, but not too happy. Winston was busy working as usual. He knows he’s going to the win the game show, but he still needs to work on his wood sculpting and pottery. Turning on his sander, he begins working on his wood project.

“Turn that thing off dude,” Neil said throwing a pillow at Winston.

“Can you stop that nonsense,” Winston snapped. “Some of us are trying to work. Being the most talented craftsman isn’t easy.”

Peter and Todd rolled their eyes went out of the cabin for some place quieter. Neil wouldn’t give up that easy.

“Work? Why are you working at a summer camp at six in the morning!” Neil shouted. Then, he unplugged Winston’s sander and picked it up. “This is what you get for waking me up.” He slammed it on the ground completely breaking.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Winston screamed. He tackled Neil and thus began the first fight of the season. They were tossing and turning, not punching each other, just trying to establish who’s stronger.

“Break it up now!” Counselor Diana ordered picking the two up. “Fighting is never tolerated. You two will each have to spend an hour cleaning the outhouses and no breakfast!” She gave the two mops and buckets. “Get going maggots,” she shouted. 

The two glared at each other and each went to a different outhouse to clean. 

. . .

Later in the morning, the two teams went into the mess hall to eat breakfast. On the Raggedy Rats team, there is a heavy awkwardness in the air. Kyle and Henry eat on a side of the table. Annalisa and Tia on another. Jade is well spaced from the whole team while Kira and Matthew sit side-by-side. Jerry, sitting on his own, is feeling a little guilty knowing he caused some of the emotional turmoil. To ease some of his guilt, Jerry tries to bring up the mood. 

“So Kyle,” Jerry said. “Didn’t you say you’re a skate boarder?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some wicked scars from doing it.” Kyle replied pointing at his elbow.

“That’s epic,” Jade piped in. “I always snuck out with my brother’s skateboard. I never got very good at it.” She pointed to a scar on her leg.

“I tried skateboarding once,” Annalisa said. “I kickflopped onto my cat.”

The team begins relax as they each get to know each other more and tell some personal stories. All the dissension that came last night was washed away in just a conversation. Jerry felt a little proud for getting the team back together.

The Loyal Lions eat and talk pretty casually. Brittney looks very annoyed that Neil is not around, but other than that, the people at the table are positive. Valerie sits next to Todd who scarfs down his food quicker than anyone else.

“Did you even taste that?” Valerie asked.

“Hey, you never know when you’ll get your next meal in the city of New York,” Todd says. “You gotta eat fast.”

“I’m guessing New York isn’t as magical as it sounds, is it?”

“There’s a lot of trash, crime, and thugs, but you learn to love it.”

~ Confessional: Valerie

“Here I am trying to win the money to help kickstart my author career, and he’s here trying to pay rent. Gosh, now I feel greedy.”

~ Confessional ends.

Celia takes note of Valerie and Todd chatting.

~ Confessional: Celia

“As of now, I plan on taking Valerie to the finale with me, but she’s all gaga over Todd. If she falls for that trash bag, she’ll put him above me in this game. We can’t have that.”

~ Confessional ends.

Days pass, and the campers begin to create a routine of waking up, eating breakfast, chatting, and enjoying the outdoors. Annalisa and Henry continue working out together in the morning. The following days pass quickly. On the third day from the first night, the two teams are excited knowing a challenge is coming up. After breakfast, the two teams are called out into an open area of the island where they are graced by Chris’s presence. 

Chris began his explanation. “Welcome, campers, to your second challenge of the season. Today, you will be playing the classic game of Capture the Flag. I’m sure you know the rules, but I’ll still explain. Each team will be given a flag to place somewhere on their side of the island. You will also all be wearing flags around your waist. If a flag is pulled off of you while you are not on your side, you go to jail. Once in jail, you can do nothing but watch the game and wallow in self pity. To win, a team must take the other team’s flag and bring it to their side or eliminate the entire other team by jailing them.” Chris turned and smiled at the camera. “Now let’s get this started.” He threw a flag to Peter and another to Jerry. He then hopped into a large red helicopter. “I’ll be watching in my brand new spectator helicopter. You guys have five minutes to designate your spot for your flag. Then, the game will officially start.”

The two teams run off to their sides of the island. The Raggedy Rats place their flag on a small patch of sand under the docks. The Loyal Lions choose the cave where they found all the lions last challenge. Once the two teams hear Chris’s air horn, they excitedly begin to strategize and come up with a game plan. 

On the Loyal Lion’s team, each person is designated a job.

“We need guards and flag runners.” Astrid said. “Flag runners should be Neil, Donna, Todd, Peter, Celia, Valerie, and me. Donna, Neil, Todd, and I will charge directly at their side. Celia, Peter, and Valerie should go around and sneak to the flag. Winston and Brittney you’ll be on guard duty.” The team nods, and they all put their hands in the middle. “Go Lions!”

The well-intentioned Raggedy Rats are a little sloppy.

“Umm, we should have two people guarding our side at all time, like Tia and Annalisa.” Kyle says. “The rest of us need to spread out on their side.”

“What are we supposed to do? All charge them?” Kira asks. 

“No, we’ll all get caught. Just, umm, be sneaky. Anyways, there’s no time. Let’s go Rats!”

Donna, Neil, Astrid, and Todd slip onto the other team’s side. They’re close enough to see and communicate with each other, but not too close to attract attention. They’re sneaking around relatively well until they hear some voices.

“Did you hear that?” Matthew told Kira.

“Yeah, like a rustling sounds.”

Matthew glances over to his left to see Neil crawling around a bush.

“Gotcha!” Matthew says pulling off his flag. Matthew then immediately drops it. There could have been so many diseases that Neil may have transferred to the flag. Matthew needed to wash his hands, but he couldn’t just leave the challenge. He turned to Kira who immediately noticed that something was up.

“Go do what you gotta do. I won’t tell,” Kira reassures.

Matthew nods a thank-you as he runs off. Kira then notices Donna and Astrid attempting to sneak around her. Kira darts at the two who immediately break into a sprint deeper onto the Rat’s side. Kira is able to rip off one of Astrid’s flags, but Donna is too quick for her.

“Keep going Donna,” Astrid calls as she begins to walk towards jail.

. . .

On the Loyal Lion’s side, Celia spends more time rallying votes than competing.

“Come on Valerie, you just can’t trust Todd. He’s a sly, low-down guy. Can’t you see the red flags?” Celia pushes. “He’s a detriment to your game.” 

“What do you mean? I’m just being nice,” Valerie responded blushing.

“That’s how it is now, but then you’re going to fall in love, vote me out, have your heart broken, and lose the game.” Celia responded harshly. 

There was a thick silence. Then, Henry and Kyle came around the corner. The two couldn’t see Celia and Valerie and were talking quite loudly.

“You said you’ve never flaked out on a dare, why start now?” Henry said.

“No, that’s crazy,” Kyle said. Henry gave him a smile. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LIIIIIOOOOOOOONSSSS!” Kyle shouted as loud as he could.

Startled, the girls covered their ears and Valerie stepped back onto a stick. Henry looked over hearing the noise.

“Ok,” Henry said, “Now let’s get out of—“

“Looks like you got caught boys,” Celia said holding up their flags. The disheartened two headed to jail. Celia turned and high-fives Valerie. “Should we head to the other side now?” She asks. 

“Ehhh, they probably have the flag by now anyways.”

. . .

Over in the Raggedy Rat’s jail, Astrid, Neil, and Peter stand all ashamed of their captures

“Sorry guys,” Peter says again, apologizing for his failed attempt to sneak over to the flag.

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t see Annalisa hiding there.” Astrid reassures him.

“Did you guys get close to the flag?” Peter asks.

“Nope,” Neil said. “I actually didn’t see it on my way to jail either.”

“It must be hidden well, but Donna was on her way to it. She must have found it,” Astrid says confidently. 

. . .

Donna is searching through the other team’s side frantically. She’s digging in every spot she thinks the flag could be and searching in little nooks and crannies. She finally sees a red cloth pinned to a tree behind two large bushes. Relieved, she steps through the bushes only to find no ground beneath her. She falls down into a muddy pit. Swift as the wind, Tia hops down and pulls off her flag. She’s proud of herself, but suddenly realizes what she’s done.

“I’m so sorry,” Tia said almost crying. “I-I shouldn’t have—“

“Woah sista, chill. It’s a game,” Donna says brushing herself off. “That was pretty clever of you to make a trap too.”

~ Confessional: Tia.

“I thought Donna would be really mad and rip me in half, or at least hate my soul eternally and convince everyone to shun me for the rest of the game. Maybe I’m too much in my head.”

~ Confessional ends.

From his helicopter, Chris laughs. “It looks like brains outsmarted brawn, and Donna was jailed.”

. . .

Being as quiet as possible, Jerry sneaks around a tree. He’s sure he heard someone, and if it’s someone on the other team, he knows he’s toast. Tiptoeing, he step on another person’s foot by accident.

“Ow, watch it manpurse,” Jade says rubbing her foot. “You blow in from Kluztville?”

“Sorry, you don’t have to be mean about it. Also, It’s not a manpurse, it’s an—“

“I’m not mean,” Jade said. “I’m snarky.”

“Whatever, I think we’re close to their flag.” 

The two get out of the underbrush and into a clearing. There they see Brittney painting her nails on a rock outside a cave.

“It looks like beauty queen is guarding something,” Jade said. “The flag has got to be in that cave.”

“Brittney can’t be that tough. Let’s go on three. One, two, three!”

Jade and Jerry rush towards the cave. An annoyed Brittney looks up and unexpectedly puts up quite a fight. With a sly smile, Brittney throws nail polish onto Jade’s shirt.

“That’s my good shirt!” Jade shouted looking down. Brittney ripped off Jade’s flag. Jerry runs passed Brittney and turns around to see she’s not chasing him.

“I am not running in wedges,” she says.

Jerry runs through the cave to see the flag near the entrance, but Winston stands next to it hovered over his laptop.

“What is the disturbance this time, teammate?” Winston asks aggravated.

“Teammate?” Jerry thinks inside his head. “Oh, we need to hide the flag somewhere else. Some people figured this place out.” He said aloud. 

“Very well. Carry on.” Winston said not moving his head away from the computer.

Jerry grabbed the flag and ran out the cave, passing Brittney. Jerry smiled thinking the luck for the Rats has just changed. 

. . .

“Thanks again,” Matthew says to Kira as he catches up with her.

“No biggie,” she replies.

“It’s just so hard to stop my thoughts some time.”

“Don’t focus on those. Just focus on me.” She flashes him a cheesy smile to let him know she’s joking.

The two laugh and head to the boundary line. There, they see Tia setting up a trap. She’s concealing another pit she found with some leaves.

“Wow,” Matthew says. “That’s smart.”

“Thanks,” Tia pauses. “I hear someone coming. Hide!”

“Come on, we’re about to lose!” shouts Celia who is chasing Jerry.

Suddenly, Tia realizes Jerry is running right towards her trap.

“Nooo!” Tia gets up and shouts, but it’s too late. Jerry and Celia both tumble down the pit. Celia gets up and notices that Jerry’s flag fell off during the fall.

“Yes,” she exclaims, only to notice hers fell off too.

“Both Jerry and Celia are out,” Chris narrates.

Valerie picks up the fallen flag and quickly goes back to her side. She darts off deep into the forest looking for the safest place to rehide the flag.

Kira and Matthew sneak after her in an attempt to see where she hides it. Though, they begin losing sight of her after about thirty seconds. Lost, the two step through the thick underbrush.

“Gotcha!” Todd shouts sweeping through and grabbing their flags. The furious two pout a little, and then head to jail. 

“Todd? Is that you? Help!” calls a voice Todd immediately recognizes as Valerie

Todd rushes over to a pit to see Valerie had fallen down. Unfortunately, she was on the Rat’s side, and she knew Tia would be coming at any time to take her waist flag and her team flag.

“I’m done for Todd, but you gotta take our team flag. You’re the person I trust the most,” Valerie calls up.

Out of a bush, Tia comes through and reaches down for Valerie’s flag. Quickly, Valerie hurls the team flag to Todd before her waist flag is taken, and she’s jailed.

Tia smiles viciously at Todd, gives him a wave, and disappears. Once she’s gone, Todd helps Valerie out of the pit.

“I’ll win this for you,” Todd smiles. “Trust me teammate.”

Valerie smiles back. “You got this. They don’t stand a chance.”

Todd heads back to the cave. “What happened?” he asked Brittney and Winston. Brittney shrugs, but Winston is quick to defend himself.

“One of our teammates came and took it. You know, manpurse and blonde hair,” Winston says.

Todd shakes Winston aggressively, “Jerry is not on our team!”

“Oh,” Winston says not used to being wrong. “Well I’m very busy, and you all look the same.” He dismisses.

“Erg,” Todd let’s out. “Look, I’ve hidden our flag somewhere. All of us need to scavenge their side and get theirs. Let’s go!”

. . . 

Annalisa had abandoned her orders to stay on her side after hearing it was just her and Tia left in the game. She had searched a whole quarter of the other team’s territory, but she still couldn’t find their flag.

“Hey Anna,” Brittney calls startling Annalisa

“Don’t call me that.”

“Tsk tsk,” she said stepping out of the bushes. “So sensitive. Look, this game is taking forever. I’ll tell you where Todd hid our flag if you tell me where you hid yours.”

Annalisa narrowed her eyes. “You tell me yours first.”

Brittney rolled her eyes. “Oh you’re so clever. Ours is in a cave filled with lions out towards the end of the island.” Brittney said. 

“Lions? Yeesh. Ours is under the dock.”

“Thanks Anna,” Brittney says swiping off Annalisa’s flag.

Realizing she’d been tricked, Annalisa walks away in shame.

Brittney runs over to Todd and Winston and informs them of where the flag is. The trio heads for the dock knowing they can overpower Tia.

The three all hop under the dock to see Tia standing right above the flag with an excited smile. In two quick swipes, Todd and Brittney are out of the game. Luckily for the Lions, Winston was able to get the flag and was now running from Tia.

“What a close race,” Chris hollered from his helicopter hovering close to the two. “Will Winston successfully— AHHHHHH.”

Winston glances up to the sky briefly to see Chris’s helicopter crash in front of him. Winston trips and his flag is pulled out by Tia. The Raggedy Rats celebrated the win, rushing around Tia and cheering for her. The Loyal Lions looked very upset.

“My helicopter. How could this happen?” Chris said devastated. He looked on top of the helicopter to see that the rotar, the part that holds together the blades, was unscrewed. “Who could have done this?” Chris sighed in defeat. “The Raggedy Rats win the challenge and Loyal Lions will be seeing me at the elimination tonight.” He said gloomily.

. . .

The Loyal Lions all sit around the campfire, somber faced and dirty.

“All the votes have been casted, and it is time to give out marshmallows. These marshmallows represent your safety in this game. The one who doesn’t receive a marshmallow will have to walk the Dock of Shame and leave on the Castaway Canoe.” Chris said with a still visible upset about the challenge.”

“First marshmallow, Todd.” Valerie gives Todd a high-five, much to Celia’s annoyance, and grabs his marshmallow.

“Donna and Peter.” Donna bear hugs poor, tiny Peter, and they each grab a marshmallow.

“Valerie and Celia.” The two smile and join the others. 

“Astrid and Brittney.” A relieved Astrid grabs her marshmallow. Brittney gives Neil a kiss and walks up to get her treat.

Winston and Neil glare at each other.

“It seems you two have caused quite the drama in your team. Not to mention, neither of you were top performers this challenge. The last marshmallow goes to...”

Neil glanced worriedly at Brittney who gave a reaffirming a nod. Winston turned to Neil and smiled.

“Neil.”

“Woohoo!” Neil said as grabbed a marshmallow and lifted Brittney off her feet in an embrace.

“What!?” Winston said exasperated. “I am the most intelligent, athletic, resourceful, and charming person to ever compete in this game.”

For the first time, Peter spoke up to Winston. “You were never going to win. The way you think you’re better than everyone is going to get you no where in life and definitely not this game.”

The Loyal Lions wave Winston a collective goodbye as he climbs into the Castaway Canoe and begins his trek off the island. 

“You’ll regret this!” He shouts as he rows out of sight.

“It’s been a dramatic, eventful, and, for some, a devastating night.” Chris says letting out a sniffle. “Find out if I get the horrible camper who destroyed my helicopter and what painful punishment is in store next time on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”

. . .

The campers all are in their cabins discussing the challenge.

“Who do you think broke Chris’s helicopter?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know, but that’s a major red flag. It gives me a bad feeling.” Jerry replies.

Many try to sleuth out who was the saboteur, but there is no proof of anyone. The campers are forced to go to bed without knowing if their bunk mate attempted to kill Chris.

After all the campers are out for the night, Counselor Diana returns to her personal cabin. There, she puts back her screwdriver into her “Hate Box.” A box dedicated to Chris and all the wrong he has committed. Oh, she didn’t kill him this time, but the summer was still young.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice seeing you here. I hope you liked the elimination of my least favorite character I made. I’m so excited to expand more on the twist at the end, but how did you feel about? Tell me in the comments.


	4. Whatcha’ Know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer is a time where everyone is free to play outside and can finally be away from homework. Right? Nope, it’s test taking time, and only the brightest team can win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy partner, I’ve kind of toned back on writing because I’ve realized how obsessed I started out (which isn’t always bad), so I can prevent a future burnout or writing block. I took this chapter slow and relaxed, and I hope you can too.
> 
> Updated Teams:
> 
> Loyal Lions: Astrid, Brittney, Celia, Donna, Neil, Peter, Todd, Valerie.
> 
> Raggedy Rats: Annalisa, Henry, Jade, Jerry, Kira, Kyle, Matthew, Tia.
> 
> Eliminated: Brad, Winston.

Even through heavy makeup, a deep dolefulness still lingers on Chris’s face as he stands in front of a camera. Still, he makes an attempt at acting excited in his introduction. “Welcome back to Total Drama Camp Catastrophe. Last episode, a lively game of Capture the Flag went down. The game was close, but after a horrible tragedy that we need not speak of, the Raggedy Rats won and Loyal Lions headed to the campfire. There, Winston was voted out for being a generally annoying person. Today, we’ll see how our teams do when they can’t rely on physical strength here on our new exciting episode of Total Drama Camp Catastrophe.” 

. . .

Annalisa and Henry find themselves outside the cabin under the fresh summer sunrise. Annalisa struggles through a burning soreness in her arms, thighs, and abs, that makes every push and pull hurt. Here muscles tell her to stop, but there’s a fire that has been lit inside of her that makes her finish her workout every morning. She lives for waking up and pushing herself. Maybe she’s high off of the endorphins, maybe she’s just crazy. She doesn’t care. 

Today, Henry and Annalisa talk about their pets as they workout. They have a rule that there’s no game talk during workouts. There’s no tension or need to lie, just genuine causal conversation. Afterwards, they head back inside the cabin feeling refreshed and exhausted at the same time.

. . .

Outside of the Loyal Lions cabin, Celia stands with her arms crossed on her chest. She has no idea what Valerie was thinking, but spending the night with Todd on the rooftop feels like nothing less than betrayal. She remembers being tucked into bed last night when she heard giggling on the rooftops. Of course, when Celia looked over to Valerie’s bed, it was empty. She quietly stepped out of the cabin to see Todd and Valerie laying on the rooftop facing the stars.

“Yeah, but like what do you want do with your life?” Valerie had asked Todd.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Todd replied.

“Don’t you want to put something out into the world and make an impact. That’s all I want.”

“I just want to be happy. Maybe get a dog.”

“You don’t want any big accomplishment?”

“Well, in New York, you either have a dream and never achieve it, or you achieve your dream and it turns out it’s a nightmare.”

“That’s depressing.”

Valerie stares up into the sky. She isn’t ever very shy about sharing her dreams of being an author, but she, unexplainably, feels really vulnerable in the moment. Writing had went from her side passion to her everything over the past year, but would writing be able to keep her happy for the rest of her life? 

“I think you’re going to make it,” Todd said interrupting Valerie’s thoughts. “You’re dedicated.”

“Will I though?” Valerie says sitting up. “It’s a competitive career where only the lucky few make it. I don’t even know if I’m good.”

“Well, as long as you’re living your dream. What’s the problem?”

Todd reached over and grabbed Valerie’s hand. Valerie had never understood why fake movie couples walked everywhere holding hands as if they’d literally die if they weren’t physically touching, but in that moment she understood the comfort of knowing someone is there to hold your hand. She squeezed Todd’s hand back.

“I’m exhausted. I think I’ll head to my bed.” Valerie said.

“Why not sleep up here?”

Valerie had rolled over closer to Todd. She was hoping he’d say that.

Now on the brink of sunrise, Celia just stands silently. The situation wasn’t enough to faze her. Valerie may have dropped from ally to threat, but Celia already knew she would have to adapt to win the game. She’s going to have to maintain her other relations in the girls alliance now that Valerie can’t be trusted. Her best move would be to push Valerie to the outside of the girls alliance while still acting like she’s on good terms with her. Celia immediately headed inside to talk to Astrid and Donna. 

“Girls, we need to talk,” Celia said loud enough to be heard by Donna and Astrid but not Brittney.

“What’s up, girl?” Donna asked.

“Shhh, we can’t wake up Brittney,” Celia said. “We need to have a girls meeting, but just us.”

The girls snuck out quietly to a picnic table outside of the mess hall. 

Astrid immediately spoke what was on her mind. “Why aren’t we inviting Brittney or Valerie? We’re a team.”

“Brittney and Valerie have other priorities. How can we trust them to be loyal to the girls alliance when they’re each seeing a guy. They’re going to be more loyal to their men than to us,” Celia defended. 

~ Confessional: Astrid

“Teams trust each other and work out their differences. I’m starting to think Celia is the one with other priorities.”

~ Confessional ends.

“I think we should target Brittney and Neil,” Celia says. “They’re a power couple that we should all feel threatened by.”

“Brittney? She’s our alliance leader! Why would we do that?” Astrid exclaimed.

“Brittney does not deserve to be our alliance leader.” Celia says knowing both Donna and Astrid agree. “She’ll vote us out in a heartbeat if it means saving Neil.” 

“Well, we won’t even have to worry about that. We’re going to dominate this challenge,” Donna says trying to change the subject.

“Just food for thought,” Celia says standing up. “There are two power couples on our team. That’s too much power not in our hands.” Celia walks away.

Celia smiled. Yes, she mostly had the meeting to outcast Valerie, but also to read the two girls. Astrid showed quite a bit of her hand to Celia. Celia knows she’s dependent on the alliance that she won’t compromise morals for strategy. Good to know.

. . . 

Tia woke up with her neck sore. The white lumps of fabric were sorry excuses for pillows and Tia’s aching neck was proof they couldn’t have costed more than a dollar.

“Nice hair, turtleneck,” Jade says as Tia begins to open her eyes.

Tia feels through her hair and realizes Jade is definitely right. She steps in front of the mirror to see messy tangles of her dark hair taunting her. She begins the annoying process of brushing as Annalisa steps inside the cabin.

“Hey Annalisa, what were you doing out there?” Tia asks her newfound friend. 

“Probably kissing Henry,” Jade sneers.

“Was not,” Annalisa says glaring at Jade. “I’ve started working out in the morning,” she pauses, “with Henry.”

“Working out your tongue.” Jade mutters.

~ Confessional: Annalisa 

“Jade usually likes to poke fun and mess around with people, but with me, it feels like she’s just being mean.”

~ Confessional ends.

“Where’s my mascara?” Kira asks glancing over to Jade.

Jade, with mascara fully applied to her eyelids, smiles back.

“Steal my makeup again and I’ll dye your hair toilet water.” Kira says.

Jade rolls her eyes. “Everyone here is so serious. It’s annoying.”

“Come on team, we have to be united if we want to win,” Tia says smiling. 

Annalise smiles back in agreement. Kira rolls her eyes.

Over in the guys side of the cabin, the men crowd around a tower built from all the mattresses in the room. Kyle crouches on top of a bunk. Rubbing his hands, Kyle gets ready to jump onto their homemade trampoline. Without needing any prompt, Kyle hops off the bunk and brings his knees to his chest as he cannonballs on the mattresses. He lands on the trampoline and, with an audible bounce, flies up to the ceiling. Kyle hits his head and crashes down onto the floor. 

“You alright man?” Henry asks helping Kyle up.

Kyle gives the guys a thumbs up with a goofy smile. The guys applause Kyle’s show—even Matthew smiles along. With cheers and pats on the back, Kyle climbs the bunks to go again.

~ Confessional: Kyle

“The things with me and the guys have actually been pretty good. If we can keep it up, I think we can have an all guys final two.”

~ Confessional ends.

. . .

Out in the forest, Peter finds himself alone as usual. Sometimes he comes out to draw things, but not today. He just wants to be alone. To say he hasn’t connected with any of his teammates would be an understatement. Peter can’t stand Neil, Todd only talks to him when he wants the rest of his sandwich, and all of the girls are one big clique.

Crack! Someone steps on a stick as they approach Peter. Peter looks up and is surprised to see Celia standing before him.

~ Confessional: Celia

“Peter is so under the radar that he could be an evil mastermind or a total goat. Either way, he’s on his own right now, and I think it’s time I swoop him up.”

~ Confessional ends.

Celia gets right down to business. “I just came out because I was wondering where your head was at in the game.”

“Well, I guess I don’t really have anything in common with anyone, so I’m working on my own. I’m really just doing my own thing.” Peter says kind of glad to have someone to talk to.

Celia couldn’t have been happier with his response. “Well, you seem like a easygoing guy, we could totally work together in this game.”

“Sure,” Peter replies a little too happy.

“Awesome, I’m just going to address the elephant in the room. Brittney and Neil need to be split up. They’re the strongest couple in—“

“Head to the Mess Hall for breakfast, campers!” Chris announces over the loudspeakers.

“Come on, we’ll talk at breakfast. You can sit with me,” Celia says.

. . .

In Chef’s kitchen, Counselor Diana enters unexpectedly.

“What are you doing back here, Missy?” Chef grunts at her.

“I was wondering when the food is coming out. The campers were promised breakfast,” Counselor Diana explains. She sets her hand on the counter only to be met with a slimy red goop. “This place is a mess, doesn’t Chris pay for a quality kitchen?”

“No, he doesn’t. That’s why this oatmeal is taking so long.”

Counselor Diana bravely poses a question. “Wouldn’t it be great if we were in charge and we could run this play without Chris?” She holds an egg up to her face inspecting it, pretending what she asked was just a casual question. 

“No way,” Chef says. “Chris has always been good to me even if he doesn’t pay me well or treat me well or let me work in good conditions... Hey! I know what you’re trying to do! I’m not going to let you take my job!”

Counselor Diana crushes the egg in her hand and steps closer. “I have other plans in mind, but if you’re not with me, you’re against me.” 

The campers eagerly line up to retrieve their newly-made breakfast. Their joy quickly ends when they learn it was not a special surprise breakfast, but the regular burnt oatmeal. The teams sit down and pick at their food. Neil and Brittney do everything but eat their food. Across from those two at another table, Kira and Matthew gag as they’re forced to watch the disgusting sight. 

“If I ever start acting like Brittney, shoot me in the face,” Kira said. Matthew snickered as Brittney look ups and around at the mention of her name.

~Confessional: Matthew 

“Things have been going really well with me and Kira. I really want this to continue, but I’m worried that my condition is going to mess everything up.”

~ Confessional ends.

Kira and Matthew are chatting when Jerry sits next to the two. Before eating, Jerry pulls out a small blue pen and injects insulin into his arm.

Matthew realizes that Jerry is probably one of the only people who might understand what he’s going through.

“Hey Jerry, how do you deal with having to live with diabetes everyday?” Matthew asks.

Jerry, a bit surprised, takes a moment to respond. “I guess I just don’t really think about it. I just accept that I got a bad hand and live normally.”

Matthew was about to open up when a clanking sound of pots and pans interrupted him. 

“Hurry up campers!” Chris said dropping the cooking utensils to the floor. “This is going to be a long challenge, so let’s get at it early. Everyone to the Arts and Crafts room.”

“I didn’t even get to start eating!” Jerry whined, but it was too late.

The campers entered the building to find a familiar interior that they didn’t expect to see.

“Why does this look like a classroom?” Henry asks.

“Because the Arts and Crafts room will serve as a classroom for today’s challenge.” Chris explains. “A lot of you may be familiar with the standardized tests you are required to take in order to measure your intelligence and judge your value to society. Today, your team will have to take a Math, English, and Science test. I will need three members for the Math and English test, and two for the science test. Everyone must compete. The team with the highest score earns bragging rights, a Counselor Diana-supervised pool party, and, most importantly, safety. Now, pick your mathletes, so we can find out Whatch’a Know. 

The Loyal Lions choose Celia, Astrid, and Donna for the math test. The Raggedy Rats choose Kyle, Tia, and Jade.

“Alright,” Chris began. “I have a total of nine math problems. I will hand three different tests with three different questions to each test taker on a team. You will get a point for each question you get correct. Now let’s start testing. I’ll give you five minutes.”

Out in the “hallways,” the campers mingle as they explore all of the areas of the Arts and Crafts room. Valerie and Todd, however, sit down side-by-side on the floor. 

“Gosh, I’ve never passed a test in my life,” Todd said. “If we lose, I’m toast.”

“You’re one of the smartest guys on the island,” Valerie says. “I highly doubt you’ll fail. Plus, it’s a reading and writing test. Those are like the two funnest things in the world.”

“I’m definitely not as smart as you,” Todd says sighing. Then, he looks at Valerie to ask a question that’s been floating in his mind. “Valerie, are the girls teaming up on the guys?”

Valerie’s brain yells at her to lie, lie, lie, lie, but she can’t. She looks Todd right in the eyes. “Yes, we are.”

Todd couldn’t believe it. He looked down to the floor. “Can I really trust you Valerie?”

Valerie looks down too, feeling very ashamed. “Of course, I would never vote you out. I promised you that you can trust me, and I’ll never go back on that.” She says firmly. 

Todd realizes he was right all along. The only teammate he can trust his himself. Valerie is here to play him like a fiddle. The two sit in silence for a while.

. . .

Neil and Brittney are over in a little corner glued together. Neil presses his lips against Brittney, and they both let out a giggle.

Neil smiles goofily. “You’re a smokebomb Bailey—” Brittney’s eyes go wide. “I mean Brittney.”

~ Confessional: Neil 

“Ok, I know I messed up there, but Brittney and me don’t do a lot of talking. We just like to makeout. Is that so shallow?”

~ Confessional ends. 

. . .

Chris stands in front of the classroom wearing glasses. “Now, it’s time for you to reveal your answers. First up is Kyle and Donna. You two were asked: If there were 20 campers on an island and 80% of those campers were blond and half of the blond campers were girls, how many blond girl campers were there? Kyle, I can’t quite tell what your answer is.”

Kyle glances down at his paper to see his answer to the question was a drawing of himself on a skateboard. “Umm, six of them?”

“That is incorrect,” Chris said.

“Eight campers.” Donna smirked.

“That is correct. The Loyal Lions have one point, and the Raggedy Rats are at zero. Let’s see how the rest of you did.”

The round goes on fairly quickly. The Lions dominate getting a total of eight questions correct, with Celia missing only one. The Raggedy Rats unfortunately don’t start off as strong. Kyle gets all of his incorrect, and Jade gets two correct. Luckily, Tia got all of her questions right. 

“Heh,” Kyle laughs sheepishly as his team looks at him. “Guess I didn’t do too hot.”

“It’s 8-5 Loyal Lions,” Chris says. “Let’s see if the Rats can catch up on our English round. We have Valerie, Todd, and Peter for the Loyal Lions, and Kira, Matthew, and Jerry for the Raggedy Rats. You’ll have 5 minutes to read this passage and answer your three questions.” 

. . .

In the hallway, Annalisa and Henry sit and wait.

“Ugh, I did so awful in Biology last year. I’m really nervous for our test,” Annalisa said.

“Biology is just knowing how tiny little atoms interact to form biological systems,” Henry said.

Annalisa gives him a blank stare. “Are you a genius or something?”

“Ha, no. I want to be a scientist though. It’s my dream to get out of the middle of nowhere and move to a big city. There’s nothing for me back at the farm.”

“That’s amazing. You’re going places Henry,” Annalisa says.

“What are you going to do?”

Annalisa freezes. All her life Annalisa has wanted to just play video games. It’s her love, but she can’t tell Henry that. He’ll think she’s a total geek.

“Umm, maybe a teacher,” Annalisa lies.

“That’s cool. The world needs kind teachers like you.”

Annalisa looks down twiddling her thumbs.

. . .

Valerie finishes all three questions in under three minutes, and she’s confident they’re all right. Out of the corner of her eye, she looks over at Todd looking at his test frustrated. Todd lets out a sigh and looks off to the wall. In that moment, Valerie gets a crazy idea. When Chris’s back is away, Valerie silently swipes Todd’s test off his desk and places hers on his. She quickly reads his passage and is about to answer the questions when Chris speaks.

“Time’s up!” Chris exclaims. “Now, let’s see the results. Valerie and Jerry, you’re up first.”

“Valerie,” Chris says. “You got 100%...”

Valerie’s face lights up.

“... of the questions wrong.”

“What?” Astrid exclaims. “Aren’t you supposed to be a writer?”

“I guess it was just the pressure,” Valerie says.

“Jerry, you got all three of your questions correct.”

Jerry high fives Kira

“We got this,” Jerry says.

“Next up is Todd and Kira. You both got all three questions correct.”

“What?” said a surprised Todd. He looked down in shock, but he knew something was off. The questions on the paper weren’t his, and he did not have curly handwriting. He looked after at Valerie, piecing the puzzle together.

“Next Matthew and Peter, you each got two correct. Teams are now tied at 13-13. It’s time for the science test!” 

On one side of the room, Annalisa and Henry stand before a table with an upright beaker filled with a cloudy liquid. Neil and Brittney are on the other side of the room with an identical table.

“Before you is a solution of salt water. You will work together to transform this salt water into hydrochloric acid and baking soda. Here are your tools.” The two teams look up expecting more beakers with chemicals, instead Chris hands each of them a straw. “You will have two tasks that will each give you one point. First, make the hydrochloride acid and baking soda. Then, write the chemical equation for this chemical reaction. Whoever gets the most points the fastest wins. Go!”

Annalisa looks down at the liquid very confused. “We’re supposed to turn this into an acid?”

Henry was just as stumped. “Well, we’re supposed to make a chemical reaction, but a straw won’t do that, we need to add something.”

Neil and Brittney look like they’ve already given up. Brittney wraps her arms around Neil and kisses him.

“You wanna skip this lame class,” she asks.

“Let’s get out of here,” He smiles. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?” Astrid shouted. “I mean, umm, shouldn’t you guys focus on the problem.”

“Nah,” Brittney said, “These challenges are just so boring.”

Annalisa and Henry are thinking hard as the others team argues viciously. 

“We need to add something with this straw? Hmm.” Annalisa said looking at her straw. “What if we add air.” She places the straw in the mixture and blows into it.

“Woah, you’re doing it,” Henry says as the mixture bubbles. The cloudy mixture is now clear with a white substance floating at the top. “You added carbon dioxide. I know how to write the equation.” Henry says quickly scribbling in the paper.

“Done!” The two shout.

“The Raggedy Rats wins again!” Chris exclaims. He turns to look at the Loyal Lions. “How did it all go wrong?”

“It’s your guys’ fault!” Astrid angrily spat out.

“Whatever, it’s Valerie’s fault for botching the English part.”

“At least she tried!” Astrid shouted.

Brittney narrowed her eyes, picked up the beaker, and splashed Astrid in the face with it. Astrid looks like she’s about to tackle Brittney when her face turns green.

“Ooh, I don’t feel so good,” she groaned as she fell to the floor. Then, without being able to help it, she vomited all over the floor.

Brittney laughs. “Serves you right...” Her face turns green. Brittney projectile vomits onto Neil’s sweatshirt.

In fact, all of the campers begin to vomit, but not Jerry. Jerry shrugs as everyone groans and moans.

Counselor Diana turned to Chris. “They must have gotten food poisoning. How could that happen?”

Chris’s eyes widened “Chef!?”

Counselor Diana smiles a knowing smile as Chris runs off. Under her breath, she whispers, “Goodbye Chef.” Then, she turns to address the campers. “Rats, we’re going to get you back to your cabin. You all need to head straight to bed. Doctor’s orders. Lions, we’re going to need you at the campfire first.”

. . .

Chris stands in front of the campfire, and, for the first time, is visibly crying on camera.

“It was emotional, but we had to let Chef go. It was tested that raw eggs were in the oatmeal. So along with carrying the guilt of voting off your fellow camper, you will carry Salmonella for four to seven days. Now, it’s marshmallow time. First marshmallow, Donna.”

Donna proudly stands up and retrieves her marshmallow.

“Todd and Celia.” The two grab their treats.

“Peter...” the smiling artist grabs his marshmallow.

“...and Astrid.” Much to Brittney’s anger, Astrid grabs the sweet.

“All three of you were basically dead weight this challenge.” Chris said looking down to Valerie, Brittney, and Neil.

“Valerie, you are safe.” She sighs and grabs her marshmallow. She places it on a stick and holds it out over the fire place when another marshmallow on a stick is stuck out near hers. Todd gave Valerie a smile as the two cooked their marshmallows.

“The last marshmallow goes to...”

Brittney and Neil hold each other tight both unsure of who’s leaving.

“Neil.”

Neil squeezes Brittney’s hand and grabs his marshmallow leaving Brittney sitting by herself, marshmallowless.

“Brittney, it’s time for you to walk the Dock of Shame and board the Castaway Canoe.”

Brittney stands up and looks like she’s about to explode a scream of rage, but instead vomits.

“Ugh, gross. Call me, Neil,” she says without too much of a goodbye. She hops into the canoe and rows away into the night. 

The campers head to bed too tired and sick to celebrate Brittney’s exit. 

Chris turns to the camera. “It’s been a dramatic day just like every other. Stay tuned for more on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! How you doing? We’re three eliminations in, and I want to know your winner prediction. Honestly, the outcome of the finale hasn’t been officially decided as of now, but I do know the two finalists.


	5. Oh...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, an obstacle course was in order after the odd outbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Relationships and tensions are heating up, teams must work quickly as individuals to get through an outrageous obstacle course.
> 
> Loyal Lions: Astrid, Celia, Donna, Neil, Peter, Todd, Valerie
> 
> Raggedy Rats: Annalisa, Henry, Jade, Jerry, Kira, Kyle, Matthew, Tia
> 
> Eliminated: Brad, Winston, Brittney

On the all-to-familiar dock, Chris poses for the camera as he begins his introduction. “Welcome back to Total Drama Camp Catastrophe. Last time, an intensive battle of the brains went down, and many visits to the intensive care unit were made after we found out that Chef had poisoned the food. The Raggedy Rats won again, and the Loyal Lions ultimately eliminated Brittney on account that she’s a bratty, petty person. Now, we’re back with an even tougher challenge. Will the teams rise to the occasion, or will this be a clean sweep? Find out here on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe.” 

. . . 

Annalisa and Henry rise from their beds alongside the sun to head to the beach and workout. Annalisa hadn’t really seen any improvement in her five days (even though she missed a day because of her food poisoning) of working out, but today, every push-up, every squat, was a little smoother. She had finally seen growth which surged her confidence like nothing else.

“I’m doing it! I’m getting better,” she said excitedly as she finished her squat without collapsing to the ground. 

“See, hard works pays off,” Henry said. 

Annalisa noticed that while she felt better, Henry seemed a little disheartened. She couldn’t find a way to mention it, so she kept quiet.

They ran their course around the island. When it was over, the two didn’t split up as they usually do, instead they both sat outside to catch their breath.

“Thank you for everything,” Annalisa said.

“No problem. I knew you could do it since the first practice.” Henry smiled back.

Annalisa rested her head on the ground. “It’s really nice to have someone who believes in you.”

Henry’s eyes lower to the ground. “Yeah, it must be.”

Annalisa looked up concerned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, my parents don’t exactly support my hobbies, or me wanting to be a scientist, or me going on this show. They want me to work on the farm for the rest of my life. It’s been so great out here, and I don’t really want to go back home.”

“Well, it’s your life, not theirs. You got to know I believe in you. You’re like some sort of genius.”

“Thanks.”

Usually, they’d be back in their cabins resting, but when they looked inside there was was the sam bland, wooden room with nothing exciting.

Annalisa turns to Henry with a more refreshing idea. “Want to go swimming?”

The two quickly change and quickly head back to the beach. Giggling, the two jump into the frigid water, and swim and splash until their both exhausted.

“The water feels so good.” Annalisa says laying back on the sand with her lower body still in the water.

“I know. Today’s just perfect.” The two lay down soaking up the sun’s rays. 

“I wish everyday was like this. I usually sleep in until noon after playing video games all nigh—“ Annalisa pauses. The one thing she didn’t want to tell him. 

“I didn’t know you played video games,” Henry said. 

“Oh I meant—“ Annalisa started trying to come up with an excuse, but the cat was out of the bag and there really wasn’t a point to lie. “Yeah, I play video games a lot.”

“That’s cool,” Henry said nonchalantly.

Annalisa let out a breath. 

~ Confessional: Annalisa

“Of course Henry didn’t care. He’s a nice guy. Why do I always get so nervous around him?”

~ Confessional ends.

The two sit and stare out into the beach. They talk, but not a whole lot. There’s not much they can say with words. Annalisa closes her eyes and snuggles against the warm sand. Annalisa tried to go to sleep but the sand moves up and down. Confused, Annalisa opens her eyes to realize she’s laying her head on Henry’s chest, not the sand.

“Oh, uh—“ Annalisa says red in the face. Just when she started to relax she had made things awkward.

“No worries,” Henry said putting his arm around Annalisa’s shoulder. He pulls her closer to his body. Annalisa just smiles as she rests her again on his chest.

Out on a picnic table, Kira and Matthew sit with a clear view of Annalisa and Henry at the beach.

“Another gross lovey-dovey couple. Great,” Kira says.

“I know. It’s almost like we’re on The Bachelor. I bet only creepy old ladies are watching,” Matthew responds. 

The two laugh and continue to talk about their fellow campers. It’s their thing; they’ll be out on their picnic table through the horrible humid mornings and damp, drizzly mornings. However, they always were secretive about their meeting. Gossip travels fast around camp, people are going to get concerned now that there is another couple. If people think they are a couple, they know they will each be easy targets. 

“Well,” Kira says, “I guess it’s time to head in so we don’t seem suspicious.”

The two smile and wave goodbye as they each make their way back to their own side of the cabin.

When Kira enters the room, she’s greeted by Tia.

“Guess who’s cuddling on the beach?” Kira says pointing out the window. Tia turns to see Annalisa and Henry intertwined in each other’s arms.

“No,” she says in disbelief.

“That means you owe me five bucks,” Jade exclaims jumping from her bed. 

Tia, with shock still in her face, hands her the crumpled bill.

~ Confessional: Tia

“Annalisa and I have been really close. We share everything. Why wouldn’t she tell me about him?”

~ Confessional ends.

“We need to split them up,” Jade says breaking Tia out of her daze.

“What? Why?” Tia asks.

“Strategy obviously,” Jade says rolling her eyes. “Farmboy can go first.”

“I’ll talk to Annalisa,” Tia says. “Let’s not do anything hasty be—“

Jade heads over to the boys cabin to feed them the new information.

Upon hearing it, Kyle laughs. “Dang, Henry is smooth!”

“Let’s just see how things play out in the next few challenges,” Jerry says.

~ Confessional: Jerry

“The worst thing our team needs his heartbreak and drama. I’m trying to be the glue that holds this team together. Why is it so terrible that they are a couple anyways?”

~ Confessional ends.

“Why is it so terrible that they are a couple anyways?” Jerry asks.

Flustered, Jade huffs back at him, “It’s strategy!” and then walks off.

Over on the boys’ side of the Loyal Lions cabin, things are also a little uneasy. Neil glares at Todd and Peter. He’s fully aware they voted off his girlfriend, and he’s not happy. He used a line of dirty shirts to draw a line in the middle of the cabin.

“Cross over to my side, and you two are dead,” Neil says jumping back in bed.

Todd wastes no time in getting out of there. “I’m going to go check on Valerie. See ya Peter.” 

Peter, all by himself, turns to Neil who narrows his eyes in a deadly glare. Peter gulps and run out of there. Once he’s outside, he’s able to breathe easy, but only for a moment. Celia swipes him away behind the cabins. She smiles with the side of her mouth as she tilts her head, a look she calls her satan’s smile.

“Hey Peter, just checking up on you. How’ve you been?” Celia says with her valley girl impression. 

“Ok I guess. Neil’s not taking Brittney’s exit very well which is—“

“Oh that sucks. Hey, who are you thinking of voting the next time we lose?”

“I haven’t really thought about it. Probably Neil because—“

“Neil is a good option, but we have to look out for the people who are a threat to our alliance like... Valerie. Hey! That’s a good idea, we should vote Valerie.”

“Ok, I guess,” Peter said. 

“Look, I got to run, but I’ll catch you around camp,” Celia said rushing off.

“Wait,” Peter hollered as Celia stopped. “Since, we’re friends in this game maybe we could go do something together... like friends. I’ve always wanted to go kayaking down river. We could do that.”

~ Confessional: Celia

“This is a game! That is the most pointless, frivolous activity. I have pitting-Valerie-and-Todd-against-each-other time from 10:00 to 10:30. Then, I have one minute to go to the bathroom, then I need to start a rumor about—“ Celia pauses, finally seeing she’s overworking herself. “Ok, maybe I need to take a little break.”

~ Confessional ends.

Peter and Celia kayak down the river. The hot, dry summer morning contrasts nicely with the cool water. Peter leads and is given a clear view the horizon. As usual, Peter finds himself lost in the not-so important things. Staring at the clouds, he makes out all kinds of things. He sees a seahorse, a frying pan, and Counselor Diana. Snickering at the last cloud, Peter points it out to Celia.

“Doesn’t that look like Counselor Diana licking her nose?” Peter says.

“Or it could be Brittney’s huge butt,” Celia responds.

The two laugh and paddle down the river. It’s a smooth ride, and the two enjoy seeing all the deer, badgers, and lions they come across. Finally, they reach the end right before the waterfall.

“That was actually pretty nice,” Celia said. “See ya around Peter.”

Peter smiles and heads back to the boy’s cabin filled with giddiness.

~ Confessional: Celia

Celia sits and indifferently looks at her nails. “Yeah, I’m only using him for the game, but—“ She looks up at the camera with a sly smile. “he’s a good kid.”

~ Confessional ends.

On the girls’ side of the Loyal Lions cabin, Astrid and Donna sit on the floor as they play a game of checkers. The two have a strong bond because they share important morals and ideas. As they days go on, their connection strengthens. 

“Yes!” Astrid exclaimed flicking Donna’s last piece to the side of the board. “You did good though.”

“I wouldn’t call getting two of your pieces good.” Donna said chuckling at all of Astrid’s pieces.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve played checkers with my dad ever since I was five. It was our thing,” Astrid said recollecting the past.

“Oh... that must have been nice,” Donna says looking to the floor rubbing her arm.

Noticing this, Astrid ask, “You okay?”

“My dad wasn’t really around for me... ever. It’s kind of a touchy subject.”

“I’m sorry. We can talk about something else.” Astrid said. She was actually pretty glad because she had been wanting to talk game with Donna. She saw Donna as a person who could push her. A person she saw herself going to the end with. Unfortunately, as Astrid attempted to bring up game, she was interrupted by Chris ordering the campers to head to the mess hall. 

The two, along with the other campers, sighed and headed to the mess hall. They took their got in the usual line and grabbed their plastic trays—but something was different. The scent of silky buttermilk pancakes wafted by. Poking her head out of the kitchen, Counselor Diana smiled as she mixed more batter in her hands.

“Who’s hungry?” She smiled.

The campers perked up as three large pancakes were piled onto to each of their plates.

“Diana is awesome!” Kyle exclaimed as he chowed down on his pancakes. The other campers, mouths full, nodded. Unfortunately, after only ten minutes, Chris called the campers outside to begin the day’s challenge. 

Chris, as always, gets use of every minute of his camera time. “Yesterday, I had to make the heartbreaking decision to fire Chef; I would have loved to keep him around, but alas, I must keep intact the integrity of this game.” Chris wiped away a few “tears.”

“As you saw, Counselor Diana will replace Chef, cooking you your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While she settled in, she realized that she couldn’t use any of Chef’s equipment. To quote her, ‘they’d make better torture weapons than kitchen utensils.’ So, that’s just what they’ll be. I’ve created a seven stage obstacle course that your team will compete in relay race style. The Raggedy Rats will need to double up on a stage. This is the O’bstacle Course! Now, let’s see some pain.” 

The Loyal Lions ordered their team pretty systematically. Least athletic people at the front, more athletic at the back. Peter stepped up to the first stage ready to start.

The Raggedy Rats looked around at each other. No one took charge of the conversation, so there really wasn’t one. Annalisa glances at Henry who met her gaze. He gave her wink and opened his mouth to suggest he and Annalisa should team up when Kira spoke up.

“Matthew and I are teaming up on the fifth obstacle. Just pick your favorite number and go to that stage,” she said to Henry’s disappointment. The team split up.

“I hope I do good,” Annalisa said. “I think all that work’s paying off.”

“You got this. See you at the finish line,” Henry said.

Back at the start line, Chris smiled looking at his beautiful creation known as Stage 1. Peter and Tia, however, looked at it with disgust. “This is the Octopus Ocean! Guess we know what that sandwich meat really was.” Before the three was a dark blue soup packed with slimy red octopuses 

Chris handed Peter a red baton and Tia a blue baton.

“You must carry your baton as you swim through this 400 meter “ocean” of octopuses—er octopi. I stress that you must hold onto the baton because you can’t move on without it. Ready, set, go!” Chris said as his air horn exploded it’s ear splitting scream.

Rather awkwardly, Peter and dove in and begin swimming through the water haphazardly while Tia pulled ahead with strong strokes. 

~ Confessional: Tia

“I’m a competitive swimmer there’s no way I would lose this. Though, I usually swim in clean, chlorinated pools—“

~ Confessional abruptly cuts.

Tia shrieks as an octopus wraps around her face. The octopus aggressively let’s out a low-pitched gurgle as wraps itself further around Tia’s neck. 

~ Confessional: Tia.

“— not octopus oceans.”

~ Confessional ends.

Peter swims ahead but at a very slow speed. As he comes above water, he pants and gasps. Knowing he’s ahead of Tia, Peter gets a surge of confidence and bursts ahead. The next time he comes up for air, he’s splatted in the mouth by a messy spray of ink. Peter gags as the sour taste fills his mouth. 

“Tastes like hair dye and the way Brittney smells before she showers,” Peter says as he gets back to swimming.

While Tia fights to keep up with Peter, Matthew and Kira snicker. 

“Competitive swimmer my butt. She’s too busy kissing octopus,” Kira says.

“The fourth power couple on camp: OcTia.” Matthew retorts.

The two laugh as Peter pulls himself out of the Octopus Ocean and hands Valerie his baton.

Valerie immediately wraps grabs onto a long rope made out of some frozen yellow food. It was vile and foul smelling; Valerie preferred not to think about what it was as she pulled herself up a wall made of the same material. Unfortunately for her, Chris couldn’t help but explain.

“Our second O’bstacle is the Omelette Wall. Made from Chef’s notorious rotten eggs. You won’t be able to plug your nose as you climb this frozen omelette rope. These babies were just pulled from the freezer, so it probably feels real nice on your hands.”

Valerie stops three quarters of the way up the wall to rest and blow on her frozen hands. She’s so cold and tired, and her hands are beginning to stick to the frozen omelette rope. She gulps as she looks down. Chris looks like an ant. Valerie isn’t scared of heights, but she’s definitely scared of falling.

“You got this Valerie!” Todd says encouraging her from the other side of the wall. “You’re right there!”

Before Valerie resumes her climb, she notices Tia passing her baton to Jerry. Luckily, after a long minute of pulling. Valerie reaches the top. She suddenly realizes she has to drop hundreds of meters down.

“Seriously?” She exasperates. “Well, it will probably take Jerry forever to—“

“Hey Valerie!” Jerry says pulling himself up next to her. “Guess all those omelette helped build some muscle. See you at the bottom.” Jerry wraps himself around the omelette rope on the other side of the wall and slides down it like a playground pole.

Like Jerry, Valerie wraps her arms around the omelette rope but can’t bring herself to drop down.

“I-I can’t.” Valerie says. “I’d die.” She looks down at Todd who sees the shame in her eyes.

“Well, someone once told me you have to trust your teammates. Drop down and I’ll catch you.”

Without looking up, Valerie shakes her head no. Valerie can’t stop her racing heart or the world around her spinning. She can’t control her panic, and she definitely can’t control the fact that gravity will crush her if she attempts to slide down. Breathing heavy, she glances back to Todd who waits at the bottom with outstretched hands. He says nothing, but the look in his eyes tells her to take a leap of faith. 

Valerie releases the omelette wall and slides down the omelette rope. She can feel her stomach in her throat as she plummets to certain death. While imagining if anyone would come to her funeral, Valerie realizes she’s not moving down. Instead, she’s in Todd’s arms who sets her on the ground.

“Oh... thanks,” Valerie says blushing.

“No problem, you did super awesome, but I can’t stick around,” Todd grabs the baton and runs after Kyle into the third obstacle.

“Todd begins his way through the Oats Onslaught obstacle following Kyle who seems to be stuck in an oatmeal puddle,” Chris narrates.

Indeed, Kyle attempts to free himself from the pit of mush but to no avail.

~ Confessional: Kyle

“If cartoons have taught me anything, there’s only way to get out of this predicatament.” 

~ Confessional ends.

Kyle fills his hands with oatmeal and begins to eat his way out of the pit. Behind him, Todd runs through a furious wind of oats generated by a fan. By the time Kyle escapes the oatmeal pit, the two are neck-and-neck as they finish the third obstacle. Kyle passes his baton to Jade and Todd to Neil as they each stop to catch their breath.

Chris excitedly explains his fourth creation. “Welcome to the Orange Arena. Before you two is a pit of five thousand tangerines with six oranges hidden inside. Search through the pit to find three oranges before you can hand your baton to your teammate.”

As Jade and Neil jump into the pit, they find themselves drowning in a sea of citruses. Neil is able pull himself back to the surface and notices a darker orange little fruit with a thicker skin.

“Nice!” He says swiping the fruit. Before reentering the pit to search for another, he notices a frantically waving arm in the sea. He pulls up Jade who gasps for her air.

Jade pulls her hair back and gives Neil one of her smirks. “Thanks dude,” she says.

But that’s not what Neil sees. Neil sees Brittney with her sassy smiles and gorgeous flowing hair.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Neil says to Jade.

“Uhh, ok.” Jade says jumping out of the pit, mainly to put distance from Neil and herself. 

“Wait girl, you don’t have to do that,” Neil says tossing the orange he found to Jade. “Leave orange-getting to me!” Neil dives back down.

Jade, dumbfounded, takes a seat and waits for Neil to do the challenge for her. 

As Neil digs through the pit, Kira and Matthew laugh.

“Love triangle,” Matthew says which cracks up Kira. Jade rolls her eyes as she begins to twirl her hair in boredom while waiting.

“All the couples on this island are so lame,” Kira says.

“Tell me about it,” Matthew says.

“This island needs an actual good couple,” Kira says giving Matthew a wink. Out of nowhere, she bravely leans into him. “Like us.” She kisses Matthew softly on the mouth.

~ Confessional: Kira

“I know, I know. All I’ve been doing here is bashing the couples, but Matthew and I have genuine chemistry. Don’t worry, we won’t be a gross makeout couple.”

~ Confessional ends.

~ Confessional: Matthew

Matthew screams loudly which shakes the giant bathroom. His scream was not a scream of joy, but a scream of terror.

~ Confessional ends.

“Her microbiome is inside my microbiome,” Matthew thought as he clutched a large tube next to him.

“You okay?” Kira asks with her pupils dilating.

Matthew thinks, “No, you transmitted billions of your bacteria to my body. God, shut up Matthew. That was your first kiss and it was great.”

Matthew takes a gulp. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says.

Kira doesn’t believe him for a second, and Matthew can see she’s deeply.

A few feet away, Neil comes up with two oranges after a few minutes of swimming. Jade grabs all three and turns to leave.

“Wait,” Neil says stopping her. “Don’t I get a kiss before you leave?”

Neil leans expectantly. Her soft lips taste delicious— almost like pineapple or maybe a mango. Neil opens his eyes to see he’s kissing a tangerine, and with a quick shove from Jade, Neil is back in the pool of tangerines. 

As Matthew and Kira stand awkwardly, Jade rushes over and hands Matthew the baton.

“It’s going to take that idiot forever to get three more. We got this in the bag,” Jade says. 

“We’ll see about that,” Chris says ready to explain another O’bstacle. “A throwback to Pahkitew Island, we have brought back the oil tubes. You have three choices. The short, but very oily way, the medium oily medium length way, or the long but not very oily way.”

“Easy,” Kira says. “Let’s go the short way.”

“I can’t...” Matthew mumbles looking at the infectious liquid. “I can’t go through all that oil.”

Kira nods without looking at Matthew and jumps into the long tube. Matthew, shamefully, follows. 

The two crawl at a fast pace, but the tunnel stretches on and on. As Matthew crawled through, he notices that the liquid isn’t even an oil. Just yellow dyed water. Classic cheap Chris must have ran out of oil. He was about to joke about it with Kira, but for some reason, it didn’t feel right. There was something weird between them. A disconnect. Matthew bit his tongue and kept on crawling. 

Gasping, Neil came back above the pit with his three oranges.

“How could Brittney do that?” Neil said like a sad, heartbroken puppy.

“Neil, we’re really behind, so hurry your butt up now!” Celia cried.

Neil passed Celia the baton and collapsed onto the ground.

Celia, having already heard Chris’s spiel, went into the shortest, but oiliest, tube. She propelled herself through the thick goop. Her legs ached and she struggled to come up for air through the oil, but she kept on going.

~ Confessional: Celia

“Generally, the people who botch challenges go home during the team portion of the game. I literally just have to not be the worst on the team, and I’m completely safe.”

~ Confessional ends.

Celia reaches the end of her tube well before Kira and Matthew and swiftly passes her baton to Donna before collapsing onto the ground.

“Donna enters the Onion Stomper stage. Donna must completely crush all 50 onions inside of her pit before passing her baton to Astrid. The final obstacle will be the Oyster Outstretch where the final competitor will race across the plain over hundreds of thousands of oysters to cross the finish line and win the challenge for their team.”

As Donna stomps and jumps and pounds on the little white vegetables, the stench of onion fills the air. Involuntarily, Donna pours tears. Shocked, Donna stopped. She’s not a crier, she never cries. Crying is for stupid little babies who can’t handle things. She wipes the tears away and continues, but must frequently stop to wipe away her tears.

Finally, Kira and Matthew exit their tube and pass the baton to Henry who wastes no time crushing each every onion near him. Henry starts out behind, but he crushes the onions at a much faster rate than Donna. Simultaneously, they each crush their final onion and pass their baton to their partner. Their teammates shouts of encouragement echo behind them.

“Crush it Astrid!”

“You got this Annalisa!”

Annalisa and Astrid crunch over the oysters side by side. The two each attempts to pass one another, but to no avail.

Astrid repeats a mantra in her head. “For the win, For your team, for you.” Over and over, Astrid remains level headed as she pushes herself as hard as she can.

Annalisa runs with her heart filled with determination. She feels like a completely different person than she was a week ago. She repeats to herself. “I am strong.” She knows she can do this. She knows she is strong. She remains fired up as she pushes herself as hard as she can.

Very happy for a suspenseful finish, Chris holds a excitedly announces, “And the winner is...”

“Astrid for the Loyal Lions!”

Astrid jumps up in the air and respectfully shakes Annalisa’s hand before going back to celebrate with her team. Annalisa collapses at the finish line devastated. She worked so hard, and it was all for nothing. Annalisa is pulled up from the ground by Henry who comforts her with a hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” Henry says.

Instead of saying anything, Annalisa just sighs.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Jade says walking over with Tia who nods in agreement. “When I finished my obstacle, we were so far ahead. What happened?”

The group of four turn to see Matthew scrubbing himself clean with the outdoor hose.

. . .

Chris smiles smugly in front of the campfire holding a plate with exactly seven marshmallows on it.

“That was quite a challenge I designed,” Chris gloated. “Anyways, you all casted your votes, and it’s time to hand out marshmallows. First marshmallow goes to Henry.”

Henry smiles and grabs his treat.

“Then, Jerry and Jade.”

Jerry happily steps up, but Matthew notices Jade giving Kira and him a glare as she retrieves her marshmallow.

“Kyle, Tia, and Annalisa.”

The three disappear from their seats leaving Kira and Matthew.

“You two clearly made the wrong choice by taking the long tube, and it very well costed your team the challenge.”

Matthew mouths to Kira, “I’m sorry.” Kira looks down to her feet,

“Last marshmallow goes to...”

“Matthew.”

“What?” Matthew says as Chris throws him the white puff.

“We were going to vote you, but Kira admitted it was her idea to take the long tube,” Jade says chewing her marshmallow.

“But—“ Matthew starts but Kira stops him.

“It’s okay, I hate literally everyone here. Goodbye.”

Kira leaves Matthew speechless as she walks the Dock of Shame and aboards Castaway Canoe. It feels like only a moment passes, and she’s gone.

Chris steals the camera from Matthew’s devastated face to finish the episode. “That concludes tonight’s dramatic episode. Stay tuned for more on Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that took forever to write. Sorry!


	6. Stop! You’re Under Arrest!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This summer, it’s been all fun in games. Rivalries have formed along with relationships, but everything’s still been tame. Until someone tried to murder all the contestants. Scared for their lives, the shocked campers must find the murderer amongst them before the next attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter definitely breaks the formula, but I hope it’s refreshing. Thank you so much for reading this. You’re awesome.
> 
> Teams:
> 
> Loyal Lions: Astrid, Celia, Donna, Neil, Peter, Todd, Valerie.
> 
> Raggedy Rats: Annalisa, Henry, Jade, Jerry, Kyle, Matthew, Tia.
> 
> Eliminated: Brad, Winston, Brittney, Kira.

The evidence wasn’t adding up. Sanders may have been new to the force, but she was no idiot. If the fourteen kids on the island had been forced to have all of their belongings searched before entering, how did one sneak in a lighter. It could have been the host, but why would the host of a show want to cut the show short by killing all of their contestants. At least he’d film it on camera, but mysteriously, all the cameras on the island were down. Sanders frustratedly turned to her partner, MacArthur.

“Are you even going to look at the evidence?” Sanders said to MacArthur who was doodling on a notepad in her helicopter seat.

“Nah, you don’t need any of that messing with your head. You gotta dive in head first and get your face right into that bucket of pig guts. But seriously, I did that once.” MacArthur said smiling. 

Sanders shook her head, “This is our first real criminal investigation, even if it’s just arson, we don’t want to mess this up. We have 16 interviews to get through today, can you try to be professional?”

“Sanders, we’re dealing with criminals. The lowliest of the low. I wouldn’t even spit in their direction. When I’m threw with them, they’ll wish they were never born.”

“That’s the kind of attitude that’s going to get you onto traffic duty.”

The blades on the helicopters slowed to a halt as the yellow and black machine MacArthur had named “Linda” landed on the ground.

“Hands where I can see them!” MacArthur said jumping onto the island. “I’ve got no problem tasing teenagers. Especially when I’m actually supposed to.”

“MacArthur, put that down,” Sanders said to partner. “Ahem,” Sanders said addressing the campers. “I know it’s been a rough night for you all, but we’re going to need to ask a few of you some questions. You also all need to be separated. First up, I need to talk to... umm... Tya? Ti?”

“It’s Tia,” said a small, dainty girl.

MacArthur smiled. “I’ll rip her to pieces,” MacArthur whispered to Sanders.

“No, no, no. I’ll handle the interrogations, you can do some investigating on the crime scene.”

“What? C’mon! I’ll be good, I promise.” MacArthur said giving Sanders her puppy-dog eyes.

“Fine, we’ll both do it.” Finally, the two turned to Tia.

“Right this way Tina...” MacArthur said smiling.

. . .

Sanders and MacArthur had been specifically told that the contestants could not leave the island, which was a problem because interrogations are supposed to take place in police room. It is optimized for the person under question to be uncomfortable. The person must face a one-way mirror as MacArthur uses every trick in the book to crack the person. Instead, the three sit on the dock.

“Tia,” Sanders started, “Can I get your account on what happened tonight, and please be very thorough.”

“I-I had just gotten into a fight with my friend... Annalisa. We’ve been getting along so well, but ever since she’s been seeing—uhh I mean—“

“Don’t you dare try to lie!” MacArthur accused, “I’ll snap your arms off and chew them up like a bacon burger.”

“MacArthur, professional,” Sanders ordered. “Tia, just be honest with us. We all just want to figure out what happened.”

Tia sniffled and wiped her eyes which were puffy and red. “Annalisa has totally ditched me for this stupid guy. I was just brushing my hair with her brush when she told me it was hers. I told it her it was fine because we don’t mind sharing things, but she took it away. When we do talk, it’s all Henry-this and Henry-that.”

“Hmm, did that make you angry. Angry enough to burn everyone to ashes?” MacArthur said.

“No! I didn’t start the fire. I went outside for a walk to blow off some steam. I saw Donna and Astrid having their own little campfire. I don’t know how they made it, but they were roasting a ton of food. They let me join and eat with them. They told me to be careful of Celia, and that she’s really manipulative. They told me she was playing the game viciously and would do anything to win. Besides that, we just talked and laughed. I headed inside after the late night campfire and went to bed. I was half-asleep when Annalisa dragged me out the door. The room around me was red, and the ceiling was filled with smoke. Everyone in our cabin had woken up from the fire except me. She saved my life.”

“Thank you very much,” Sanders said. “You can go back to your friends, but we might call you back here if we need to. Have a good night.”

Tia nodded and left the dock leaving the two officers to discuss her point-of-view.

“That poor girl,” Sanders said. “The fire really has her shook up.”

“That girl was telling tales. She kept glancing away and rubbing her face.” MacArthur said scratching her nose.

“She’s a scared little girl, let’s get more perspectives until we call people liars.”

. . .

“Celia did it,” Astrid said before she even sat down in front of the officers.

“Now we’re cooking with gas,” MacArthur said. “Tell us all the juicy details.”

“Donna and I had went on a hike, and when we got back, Celia was leading a little meeting for everyone on our team... except me and Donna. She’s brainwashing them. They all were going to vote us off. I had to stand up for myself. When she left, I told everyone that she needs to go. I was starting to talk some sense into them when Celia came back, and I’ll never forget what she said. ‘You mess with the flame, you’re going to get burned.’”

“Oh she is going down!” MacArthur shouted.

. . .

Wrapped in a blanket, the accused Celia sat down before the two officers. MacArthur gave her a glare to remember.

“Why’d you do it punk!” MacArthur screamed.

“What she means is, what is your account of what happened tonight?” Sanders said.

“Well, I was organizing my binder of information on the other campers when—“ Celia said thinking back to her day.

“You have a binder of information on the other campers?” Sanders asked.

“Yeah, I track their habits, speaking patterns, relationships, insecurities, and childhood traumas. Anyways, I was organizing my binder when I heard voices. Donna and Astrid were telling Todd and Valerie about my binder. There’s no way they would know about that unless they’d be spying on me.”

“I rallied up the Lions, and we decided we would vote them out. When I left, those snakes were back trying to convince the other camps that I’m some evil witch.”

Sanders looked up at her, “Did you or did you not say, and I quote, ‘You mess with the flame, you’re going to get burned.’”

Celia’s cheeks reddened. MacArthur couldn’t help but smile.

“I said that,” Celia admitted. “But let me finish. The rest of the night went by awkwardly, with Peter and I on one side of the cabin and Donna and Astrid on the other. They even put a dresser separating us. Celia and Donna stopped filling the cabin with their stupidity and went outside. I heard them talking with Counselor Diana which was strange. She doesn’t usually talk to us. I overheard them talking and I heard by name mentioned. Towards the end of the night, I smelled fire. Luckily, it was just Donna and Astrid with their little fire, but we’re not allowed to have matches or gasoline. I have no idea how they could’ve started it, but I didn’t care and went to bed. Then— then, they—”

Suddenly, Celia stopped talking. Sanders looked up from her notes to see Celia crying. “I had a dream, someone in a mask had went around chopping off each of our heads. When they got to me, I screamed and woke up, but I couldn’t breathe. There was smoke everywhere. I shook Peter as hard as I could and ran for the door with him.”

She paused, her voice became dry. “Then, we ran into the dresser. We tried to push it, but it felt heavier. No matter what we did, it wouldn’t budge. I started to give up and accept what was about to happen. Then, Peter lifted me over. I was able to pull him up with me and we escaped. We were the last ones, the others left us to die in there.”

“Thanks honey, why don’t you head back,” Sanders said.

MacArthur glared at her as she left. “For some reason I’m not believing Miss I-Right-Down-Everyone’s-fears-so-I-can-use-them-against-them.”

“We’re not going too deep into this until we have everyone’s perspective,” Sanders said.

“Then we’re in for a long night,” MacArthur sighed.

And it definitely was a long night. Interrogation after interrogation, the two cops sat through with only caffeine keeping them awake. Until they came to their last camper, Donna.

“One more MacArthur, MacArthur! Wake up!” Sanders said tapping her on the face.

To no avail, MacArthur snored on.

“Sorry, about my VERY UNPROFESSIONAL partner. It’s been a long night.”

“You ain’t wrong sis’,” Donna said casually.

“Well, let’s not be long. Now, something that keeps popping up is that you and your friend Astrid made a campfire. How were you two able to do that?”

“Chris keeps his lighter in his cabin, and knowing how to make a fire is second nature for girls like us.” She stretching back.

“Umm... okay,” Sanders says shifting her legs out to ocean. “When did you or your friend put out the fire.”

“Well there’s not any clocks nowhere ‘round here, but I’d say around midnight we put it out and went to bed.”

Sanders scribbled down her last notes. Of course, there was so much more to ask, but Sanders really just wanted to sleep. Though, when she was getting up, Donna stopped her.

“Wait! Don’t you want to... I don’t know, talk.” Donna said

“What’s there to say?” Sanders eyed her suspiciously.

“I don’t know... it’s just. I miss my friends, my people, you know? All these people, they’re perfect, rich, suburban kids. Even my best friend here can act all high and mighty. I want to talk to someone real for a bit.”

Sanders sat down. This was perfect. Donna might just spill everything to her “Fire away.”

“Ugh, well I sure hate Celia. Y’all know that girl has a binder filled with stuff about all of us? She’s so “I’m so smart, y’all so dumb.” Boy, she makes me livid. Counselor Diana thinks she’s a you-know-what too.”

Sanders nodded, intrigued.

“Counselor Diana said she’d be glad to help take her out of the show.”

Sanders took note and let Donna vent her every thought and feelings. Donna sure thought and felt a lot too. Eventually, Donna wore out and finally left for bed.

Sanders knew she needed to talk to Counselor Diana right away—but when Sanders arrived at the campsite area she was nowhere to be seen. Just campers sprawled in undersized sleeping bags. Most did fall asleep considering the ungodly hour, but Tia leaned up from the ground to face the officer.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Looking for your counselor, do you know where she is?”

“She has her own living area. I can show you. I wasn’t going to sleep anyways.”

The two scampered off in the night. It was still and quiet, but not dark. The moon shone with a silver glow almost foreshadowing that the night was not over just yet. Tia and Sanders reached Counselor Diana’s door and politely, but firmly, Sanders knocked. A light turned on in the room and the door crept open.

Counselor Diana was in pajamas, but her face gleamed like she had been up and expecting them, not a hint of weariness on her face. 

“Come in you two!” The lively woman said as she went straight to a little, dark-black machine. “I’ll make cocoa, take a seat anywhere!”

“You don’t need to do that. This is going to be quick. I have just have to ask you a few questions,” Sanders said. Tia sat down on Counselor Diana’s grey little couch and each passing second she found herself sinking into its coziness. In seconds, Tia had drifted off.

“You had a conversation with two campers, Astrid and Donna, about another camp Celia. What did that conversation entail?” Sanders said.

“Those girls were definitely having a conflict. As a counselor, I wanted to build a constructive dialogue, but those girls were just so angry. Threatening even, I can understand if you suspect either of them started the fire.” Diana said curling up on chair with a steaming cup of cocoa.

The two continued talking, but the conversation didn’t seem to go anywhere. Sanders didn’t like how Diana seemed to dance in vagueness when she talked. She answered every question without answering it. 

Sanders was packing up when Counselor Diana invited her to stay the night. 

“It’s no burden at all,” Counselor Diana insisted. Sanders had a sleeping bag back at the campsite like the rest of the campers, but the couch right next to Tia looked so comfty. In moments, Sanders was out on the bed.

. . .

The sound of the stream next to Peter’s sleeping back pitter-pattered incessantly next him. Or maybe it was a friendly deer munching on some leaves. No, it sounded like... crying. Peter turned and glances around the campsite. The sound seemed to be coming from an orange sleeping bag. Focusing, he saw Celia crying into her hands in her sleeping bag.

“Celia,” Peter called out. Celia’s buddy went rigid. Peter rolled over to her as Celia remained an icy statue; her face in her hands.

“Celia,” he repeated grabbing her hands. “What’s wrong?”

Celia looked up and met his eyes which stung red. “God, I’m so scared.” Celia began shaking. “We almost died. Can you believe that. We should be dead. Damnit, I deserve to be crying.”

“But we survived because we’re strong. People like you and me. We’re strong.” Peter said grabbing her hand.

“This whole thing. It’s just a big... it’s really...”

“A mess.”

“A big mess,” 

. . .

Sanders eyes popped open. She jumped off the couch with a start. What time was it? Sanders grabbed her bag and reached for her notepad, but she found nothing.

“What?” Sanders whispered. She turned her bag upside and down but it was nowhere. Sanders clearly remembered stuffing it in her bag. Sanders let out a sigh.

“Officer,”

Sanders jumped

“Sorry to scare you,” Tia whispered.

“Do you know where my notebook is?” Sanders asked straight-to-point.

Tia’s eyes widened

“She read it.”

Sanders mouth dropped open.

“I woke up and saw her flipping through pages. I-I was scared. I pretended to be asleep.”

Then Sanders saw it, her notebook closed neatly on the chair in the living room. Sanders grabbed it and turned to Tia.

“We need to leave, now.”

. . .

Kyle was on the trail. The trail of what? He didn’t really know. He had narrowed the arsonist down to one of the campers, a fire god, or his uncle Philbert.

“What are you doing?” Jerry asked.

“I’m detective-ing, you know, trying to solve the case.” Kyle said. “Looks like your bug spray is flammable, highly suspicious if you ask me.”

“Oh my god, dude. Why don’t you go detective somewhere else?” Jerry said.

“Well don’t you want to help? A Sherlock needs his Holmes.”

Jerry had two options. He could say no and lay their replaying the fire in his mind over-and-over, or go possibly fall off a cliff following Kyle around.

“I think you mean Watson, but sure.”

The two “detectived” through the island—whatever that meaned. The sun peaked out from the trees on the fresh summer morning as the two meandered on their way. Jerry couldn’t believe Kyle. He jogged through the island, gawking at overpassing birds, and chasing after deer. How did he do it? How was he okay?

“You seem happy for someone who almost burned alive last night.” Jerry said, realeasing his thoughts.

“Yeah, you just got to let it go,” Kyle said. When a squirrel darted in front of Kyle, he bent down to pet it. “Like what’s the point of thinking about it anymore? Are squirrels just long tailed rabbits?”

Kyle picked up the squirrel and placed it on his shoulder. The squirrel almost looked like Kyle, with its excited eyes and loose, squirmy little body. Jerry thought that squirrel was like Kyle in a lot of ways actually.

As Kyle and Jerry walked, they neared the charred remains of the two cabins.

“Dang,” Kyle said looking around. Burnt items ranged from teddy bears to destroyed bunk beds. Even entire walls of the cabin littered the ground.

“I know,” Jerry said, “This is horri—“

“This is awesome! Look at all this sweet stuff.” Kyle pulled out a slender, pink machine from a pile of ashes. After hitting a button, it began vibrating.

“Is that what I think it is?” Jerry asked. 

“Yep, an electric toothbrush!” Kyle said.

Jerry turned to look at the Loyal Lions cabin. He’d never been in there, and he was a little curious. He began digging through the ashes, but what remained wasn’t too interesting. Some scraps of clothing here, and some objects he couldn’t distinguish from the fire damage. Then he came across a bag. The bag was bright red and stitched in on the side was the name “Astrid.” It was amazing that it had eluded all fire damage. Jerry felt a little shy about invading Astrid’s privacy. What if there was something in there he shouldn’t see? Jerry glances to see Kyle swimming through junk. With Kyle distracted, Jerry unzipped the zipper. The inside was actually quite plain. Clothes, extra shoes, an old letter, and bunch of little SD cards. Of course, Jerry had to read the letter.

_Dear Astrid,_

_We miss you very much, but we know you’re doing wonderful, dear. Hank and I sit down to watch every night, and we’re so proud! You’re the light of our life. Even if we miss you very much, we know you’re there with good intentions. Never forget how capable you are! Especially if you’re tempted to cheat. We wouldn’t want a repeat of All-State again. We saw Donna, I’m so glad you made a sweet friend! Always remember Astrid, your inner fire is strong!!!_

_Mommy &  Papa_

   Jerry’s eyes widened. Astrid always seemed like the play-by-the-rules type of person, but could she be capable of cheating. A darker thought lingered. Could she be capable of murder? He dug through her bag to find anything else, but there was nothing. Still, Jerry felt unsatisfied. He couldn’t bring this information to the cops. A letter wouldn’t convince them of anything. Jerry turned back to the bag and sighed. He eyes fell back on the dozens on the SD cards.

 Jerry held one up, examine it closely. 

_SuperStorage Camera Cards_

Jerry was shocked. He had remembered what Chris said about the cameras going down. It. Was. Astrid. Nervous, but excited Jerry turned to tell Kyle the news when he stopped at what he saw. 

  “Oh hey, Jerry!” Kyle shouted. “Look who dropped by!”

  Jerry could do nothing else to smile and wave at their visitor: Astrid.

 . . . 

The cops weren’t the only ones determined to solve the case. Valerie was set on deducting the mysterious arson. She had read an extensive amount of mystery novels, so she believed she was more than capable of solving this. 

“One of them is lying,” she said to herself, but who. Valerie sat down and focused. She replayed the night in her mind looking for clues as if they were hidden away in her memories. She pictured that night like she pictured a book, pushing her brain to display ever detail. 

She had curled up in bed with a book, one of Astrid’s, hoping to go to bed early for the challenge the next day. Todd came into the cabin. He had a dirt stain on his shirt and he looked a little messy, but Valerie didn’t mind. With him, he carried a basket. He had walked over and kneeled by Valerie’s bed.

“Blueberries,” he said smiling. “They’re your favorite, right?”

Valerie smiles, remembering how she didn’t have the heart to tell him she hated blueberries.

“Delicious,” she said winking at him. “Where’d you find them?”

“The deepest area of the forest. I had to travel through quicksand and over rabid lions.” 

“Consider my heart swooned,” Valerie remembered smiling. She ran her hand through his hair giggling. “Todd, I think—“

Counselor Diana opened the door and entered the room. The two froze in place.

“Well, well. I hope I won’t have to remind you two about camp intimacy policies,” she said smirking.

Flustered, Valerie skirted out of the cabin like a mouse. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Todd had followed her. 

“Valerie, who cares about her? I don’t” Todd said.

Valerie cringed remembering her response. “What if people think of us as an item?” She remembered the sad look in Todd’s eyes that followed. “I mean what if people target us.”

“I don’t care,” he murmured back at her. 

“I care. I care about you. Todd, I know you need the money,” Valerie said raising her tone. “I want you to win,” she told him. She couldn’t believe, but she really meant it.

Todd reddened and stayed silent for a moment before he spoke. “You think I’m poor, don’t you?”

“No, no, no. I think you’re funny, but not mean funny like most people, like sweet funny, and you always make me smile because you make me feel important when you laugh at my jokes and compliment me.” Valerie said grabbing Todd’s hand. “That’s what I think about you. You just don’t have a lot of money. That’s not you. That’s your circumstance.”

Todd wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her closer. Tightly, he held her and she smiled. Todd leaned in and kissed her mouth Softly and slowly. She pressed back fiercely, and when the kiss was over, they descended into giggles. 

“Ok, my turn. I think you’re smartest person here, and I think you’re so caring, like you never judge anyone here—and most of all I think you’re great because you’re the only person here who talks to me.”

“Having a moment, are we?”

The two had jumped at Counselor Diana standing on the cabin porch.

“Ever heard of privacy?” Todd asked crossing his arms.

“I hope you consider changing your tone. I do have the power to deem contestant “misbehaved” and send them home in the matter of second.” She smiled her fake smile

“Why-why are you so mean?” Valerie had asked her

Counselor Diana’s face never faltered. “Mean is a school bully who taunts you without rhyme nor reason. I am your superior I will demand the respect a superior deserves.” She walked off, and although she showed no signs of anger, Valerie could almost hear the nasty thoughts in that woman’s head.”

“Now that she’s gone, let’s head back in,” Todd said bringing her along with him.

They stepped into the cabin. In the little of picture of the cabin in Valerie’s mind, something was different after Counselor Diana had been in there. Focusing Valerie, brought herself into that moment. She could hardly hear what Todd was saying in her thoughts, but she knew his words by memory. She turned to her left.

The window. The window was always opened, but now it was shut and locked. It had never been locked before. She turned again to her right. Astrid’s bag was on her bed, instead of under it. Valerie looked around, but her mind became weary.

Valerie opened her eyes and brought herself back. 

. . .

“I was just going to see if any of my things survived the flames,” Astrid said. “What are you guys doing here?” 

Jerry gripped Astrid’s bag in his hands. Astrid couldn’t see Jerry from where she was standing, but she would soon. He had to think of something.

“We’re solving this mystery! Kyle responded.

Jerry panicked. He dropped the bag right where it was and pretended to go somewhere else to look.

“You guys know it was Celia, right?” Astrid said as she walked over to the ashes of her bed. “Looks like she’s gonna be arrested real soon.”

“Celia’s not the one getting arrested,” Jerry muttered under his breath.

“Ugh,” Astrid sighed. “I think it got destroyed. There was something important inside there.”

“Out with the old, and in with the new,” Kyle said.

“I guess,” Astrid mumbled. She glanced around and met Jerry’s gaze. “Have you seen my bag anywhere?”

Jerry shook his head no.

Astrid sighed once more, then rose up and left. Once she was out of sight, Jerry immediately picked up her bag.

“We’re going to the cops,” he told Kyle.

. . .

“It doesn’t matter!” Chris shouted. “I have a show to run. We’re supposed to air an episode tonight and we don’t have any footage!

“Listen here pretty boy,” MacArthur shouted back with even more fury. “You’re not going to have any more episodes until we find out and arrest who did this.”

“Fine! Campers gather around. We’re going to vote on who we think tried to kill you all,” Chris said.

“That’s not happening,” Sanders said to Chris, “This is serious police work. Not a game. Plus, you are still very much a suspect.”

“Look, even if I did it, which I didn’t, the Total Drama Lawyers could get me out of it. So we’re doing it my way,” Chris said. “Now, I want to things to get dirty. Donna, who do you think did it?

“Celia. No doubt, she doesn’t have a single friend here and will do anything to win.”

“Maybe, it was literally the only person who knew how to start a fire,” Celia hissed black, “You!”

“Wait!” Jerry hollered sprinting up to the campers. He ripped open Astrid’s bed. “I found a bunch of camera cards in Astrid’s bag! She turned off the cameras!”

“Uhh... what now?” Astrid said.

Sanders immediately grabbed the evidence. “Miss, you have a bit of explaining to do,” 

“I-I,” Astrid stammered, “I don’t know how those got in there. I really didn’t take them!”

“What a good actor,” Valerie thought.

Then, she remembered. Counselor Diana, the bag, the window. Valerie turned and made eye contact with her. Counselor Diana challenged her stare and smiled back.

“Why don’t we vote now? Hands up for Astrid!” Chris begins counting the hands. “Looks like we have Jerry, Annalisa, Todd, Kyle, Jade, Tia, Celia, Peter, Matthew, Neil, Henry, and even Donna.”

“How could you do this?” Donna whispered to Astrid.

“It really wasn’t me!” She cried.

“Valerie and Astrid, looks like you’re outnumbered and Astrid’s getting the police helicopter ride of shame!

“Fine by me,” MacArthur said cuffing Astrid.

Astrid screamed and shouted until you couldn’t hear her over the roar of the helicopter. In a moment, the helicopter was gone, along with Astrid.

“Looks like this is all done and we no longer need to think about it! We’ll have new camera cards tomorrow, and your next challenge, so stay tuned— oh yeah, no cameras. Well, goodnight guys.”

. . .

Preparing for the night, Counselor Diana stepped into her living area.

“What a day,” she yawned. Putting up with Chris got harder by the minute, but now she was finally at peace, or so she thought.

“What a day, indeed,” uttered a voice from the living room. Taking a drink from Counselor Diana’s tea glass, Valerie sat and smiled. “And now it’s the night, where the real fun begins.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, life got hectic and I left this behind, but writing is still a passion of mind, and I don’t plan on stopping. Honestly, I couldn’t see Astrid’s development leading anywhere, so... snip-snip.


	7. Head Above Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana’s actions did not go unnoticed. A few campers begin to realize the severity of the situation. But as Valerie continues investigating the case she questions if Diana is really the enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T H A N K Y O U F O R R E A D I N G
> 
> Loyal Lions: Celia, Donna, Neil, Peter, Todd, Valerie.
> 
> Raggedy Rats: Annalisa, Henry, Jade, Jerry, Kyle, Matthew, Tia
> 
> Eliminated: Brad, Winston, Brittney, Kira, Astridi

Valerie felt powerful. She knew what she was doing was crazy, but oh so right. It wasn’t a suicide anyways. Todd was outside with a camera. He would bust in the room the moment Counselor Diana tried to lay a finger on her. All Valerie needed was for Counselor Diana to admit to the fire.

“Valerie, go to bed and forget anything you think you saw and that will be the end of this,” Counselor Diana growled. As she stood up, Valerie realized Counselor Diana was lot more muscular and taller than she thought.

Valerie challenged her stare. “Why would I be thinking anything if you’re innocent? Why would I suspect you planted those cards in Astrid’s bags? Why would I suspect you tried to KILL me?” Valerie shouted.

Diana looked like she was about to lunge at Valerie, but instead, she turned around and headed into the kitchen. “You’re a lot like me Valerie. You want to be somebody and make a difference, be someone who leaves an impact that lasts for ages.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a long, sleek knife. “At least, that’s how I was. But something changed me. We can work together Valerie. We could be friends. I could change you.”

Valerie shivered, “Ok,” she agreed. “As long as you admit you started the fire.”

Counselor Diana ignored her and began slicing an apple with her knife. “Contrary to what you might think, I’m not here to hurt you, or any your friends. We can talk more, why don’t you invite your friend in too?”

Valerie gulped. She knew about Todd somehow. “What’s your goal? What’s your endgame? WHY?”

“Why? There’s only one thing that motivates me in life,” she said opening the window and startled Todd. She snatched his camera and smashed it against the wall. “Revenge! I’m going to kill Chris and if you try to stop me, you’ll die.” She dropped her apple to the floor and gripped her knife ready to attack.

There were no cameras to see anything. Valerie would die, and Counselor Diana would lie her way out of it. Except there was Todd. Todd’s fist smacked Counselor Diana’s cheek and she fell to the floor, but she was back on her feet in a moment. With her elbow, she jabbed Todd’s nose with an audible crunch. Shrieking, Valerie dove onto her. She dug her fingernails across her face.

Counselor Diana swore and dug her knife into Valerie’s leg. Valerie’s leg convulsed and the nerves in her legs lit with horrible fury. Shocks jolted through her body.

“Hello? Is everything okay in there?” Donna’s voice called from outside the small house.

The room went silent.

“These two campers just sustained some injuries. I was helping them out.” Counselor Diana said with a light tone still underneath Valerie. 

She pulled the knife out of Valerie’s leg like a splinter out of a child’s finger. Valerie let out a whimper. “Go to the medics, tell them you cut yourself on some metal or whatever. If you tell them it was me, you will die. Now. Get. Out!”

“Whose all in there?” Donna asked, her concern evident in her voice. 

“Valerie and Todd, silly little things,” Counselor Diana sung. “I think they need a medic though. Donna, could you be a dear and help them to the medics?”

The two were practically pushed out and Counselor Diana shut the door quickly behind them. Valerie could barely walk, and to move things along, Donna began carrying her.

“So,” Donna said. “I’m sure that shrieking wasn’t cause there was a surprise party in there.”

Valerie looked wearily at Todd, unsure if she should share, and Donna caught wind to that.

“I’m serious, y’all need to say something if she hurt you.”

Todd nodded at Valerie. “Counselor Diana started the fire,” Todd confided. “She almost killed us because we knew.” Donna almost dropped Valerie in shock.

“B-but how? Why?” Donna said. She felt horrible sending Astrid home. She felt scared hearing what Diana was capable of. 

“Valerie suspected it after she thought Counselor Diana planted the SD cards in Astrid’s bag. Almost murdering us confirmed our theory.”

“She stabbed me,” Valerie muttered. Her face was sickly pale. “And I think I’m dying.” Donna looked down to see she was soaked in blood, and that Valerie had left a good trail of it behind them too. She was losing a lot of blood.

“Oh god, we need to stop the blood.” Todd ripped off his sleeve and wrapped it around Valerie’s leg. “Donna, maybe we should start running.” And that’s what they did. The entire mile in an anxious silence.

“Dr. Morgan,” Todd called out when they reached the medic. The old, but diligent man turned to see Valerie hanging in Donna’s arms.

Without a word, he grabbed her from Donna’s hands and set her on a bed. As he began cleaning the wound, he asked the expected question. “What happened to her?”

Todd hesitated. He needed to tell him. Someone had to stand up to Diana. Before Todd opened his mouth, Dr. Morgan’s phone rang.

“Yes, she made it here okay,” Dr. Morgan said. “Hiking accident? She’s got a deep cut, but I’ll fix her up, don’t worry Diana.” He shut his cellphone and went back to assisting Valerie. “Go to bed you two, you’ve had a long night. She’ll be fine by the morning.”

“I’ll stay here,” Todd blurted. “Just to keep her company.” He knew he couldn’t leave her alone. Not ever again with Diana on the island. 

“Well I have a date with my bed, g’night Todd,” Donna said.

. . .

The campers slept in remodeled cabins. The men and women of each team had to share a cabin, however, it was much better than the grass.

In the Rat’s cabin, Matthew dared not to move an inch. In another horrible intrusive attack, Matthew was flooded with panic. At any moment, Henry could plunge a dagger into his heart. The majority of murders are committed by people the victim knew rather than a stranger. Henry could definitely be a murderer. He could very justly have a deep ceded hatred for Matthew. As if that wasn’t enough for Matthew to worry about, across the room, Kyle snored.

Kyle easily would have no problem killing Matthew. Kyle had some handy knife skills. Matthew has seen him put avocado on toast like he was smearing his victim’s blood all over a wall. 

Matthew was barely holding on. Between the fire and losing Kira, Matthew’s sanity was lost. So long as he was on the island, he was completely alone. The mind he was trapped with was completely against him. 

. . .

Over in the bathroom area, most girls were up to get their makeup on, which they did even on days that didn’t have challenges and the cameras weren’t always rolling. Annalisa strolled back in and joined the other girls. 

“Aww,” Tia said smiling.

“What?” Annalisa asked.

“You have that starstruck look in your eyes. I’m guessing you just saw Henry cause you’re glowing.”

Annalisa couldn’t help but smile, “We’ve been meeting up every morning.”

“SoOoOOo cUtE,” Jade said applying mascara. Annalisa rolled her eyes. “You saved your mascara, but not any of your clothes?”

“Uhh yeah, the important stuff.”

“Speaking of the fire, Annalisa, thank you for saving me. I wouldn’t be alive without you,” Tia said. 

“Of course, who would help me with my makeup if you burned to death. I can’t believe Astrid did that. Scarlett 2.0.”

The two began applying their makeup together. Of course, they always used this opportunity to talk strategy.

“If we lose,” Tia said quietly to Annalisa. “Who’s going?”

“Let’s go for Jade. I can’t stand how conceited she is. She really thinks she’s some sassy diva.” Annalisa said.

“What? She’s just playing. She’d never vote either of us off. We should go for one of the guys. Like Kyle, or Jerry, or maybe Hen—“

“No, not Henry,” Annalisa insisted.

“I know you like him, Annalisa. But eventually he’s going to have to go.” Tia said. She began applying brushstrokes quicker and began pressing down a lot harder.

“Not for a long time and not now, anyways, I’m going to go see him,” Annalisa said packing up her things.

“What? We just starting talking. You’re really going to leave me for him again?” Tia said slamming her brush down.

Annalisa reddened. “We’re just friends hanging out.”

“Annalisa, I saw you kiss him.”

There was a pause.

“Why haven’t you told me?” Tia asked.

“Maybe I would have told you if you weren’t always so aggressive about it.” Annalisa said. Her fists tightened around her bag. Her heart was racing. Tia was her friend. She didn’t want to fight, but she was mad. No, she was livid. Not wanting to hear another quip, she left with a very necessary door slam.

“That didn’t go too well,” Jade said in front of her mirror.

“Do you think she stopped liking me?” Tia asked.

Jade snorted. “That’s not how it works, people don’t just stop liking you. She just needs space, Tia.”

“I really want to her to like me,” Tia said, “but it’s like I’m her number two now.”

Jade put her hand on Tia’s shoulder “Look, I know what it’s like when someone you like doesn’t like you back. Trust me, I don’t mix well with a lot of people. But that’s not Annalisa, she likes you, you just need to stop worrying.”

“Thanks,” Tia said, but she still wasn’t sure. She would get why Annalisa finds her annoying, even she gets annoyed being her sometimes.

Jade flipped her purple hair confidently. “Don’t mention. Let’s go win another one of Chris’s little games.”

. . .

Donna always had dreams about fights. Not sissy fights, but fights in the ring. She’s dreamed of being an MMA fighter for ages, and usually her dreams end in triumph, but not this one.

Donna was in her own neighborhood. The cracked road stretched for blocks surrounded by clusters of the dinky little houses she’d known all her life. There was no ring, but she was in her fighting clothes.

Crack! A jab from behind her forced her to the ground. Donna caught herself and turned around, ready to parry the next strike. She was able to see her opponent was none other than Counselor Diana. Donna’s skill and practice left her body as Diana hit her with a blow to her face. People began crowding around cheering on Diana’s beatdown. Donna pulled herself to her feet to see Diana facing her with a gun in hand. The crowd went silent. As her fingers curved around the trigger, Donna screamed and was released from her nightmare.

Back in her bed, Donna patted herself to make sure she was still intact. Thankfully, she was. Donna sighed noticing Astrid’s bed was empty. Donna really didn’t know what to think about her. She had been her closest friend, and then she tried to kill her. Then, she learned it wasn’t her. It helped not to think about it at all. Down the row, Todd’s and Valerie’s beds were empty. She was hoping she could talk to Todd, but he was still with Valerie. Everyone else slept soundly like a baby, or, in Celia’s case, a demon baby. Except, Neil’s bed was empty.

Donna rose from her bed and began to look around for him. He must have left. Donna quietly exited the cabin, and it didn’t take long for Donna to spot him. Standing next to the cabin, Neil leaned against the wall with cigarette in his mouth.

Donna walked over to him. “Man, you know that’s against the rules,” she said pointing to the cigarette.

“Hey, don’t be like that, I’ve been under a lot of stress. Life hasn’t been the greatest,” Neil said. His face flickered, remembering Brittney yet again.

Donna couldn’t have felt the same. “I think I need some too,” she said grabbing his cigarette and taking a huff. The cigarette tasted nasty, but the sensation was something to put her mind off things.

“These people,” she said. “They’re all the same.”

“Tell me about it,”

“Different people, like you and me, need to stick together,” Donna said.

“Sure, whatever, we can make cutesy-wootsey little alliance like you and Astrid had,” Neil said, “but only because you’re the only person here I can stand to be around.”

. . .

Henry waited for Annalisa under a large oak tree. Each day, they learned more about each other and explored each other’s lives. Their morning workouts were consistent. Annalisa seemed like quiet kind of girl at first. But Henry learned she loved to talk.

“The island’s so peaceful, do you think this one’s robotic too? I mean I don’t think it makes a difference. An island is an island, and as long as we can stand on it, it really doesn’t matter if it’s a robot or not.”

“No, I’ve seen new species of flowers. That’s evidence of cross breeding,” Annalisa nodded but Henry could tell she didn’t really understand. “But you know what might be a robot? Counselor Diana.”

“I know right. Robotic voice. Robotic walking. She has no sense of fashion either. She dresses like a boring, middle-aged woman.”

“Isn’t she?”

“Yeah, well that’s not an excuse.”

Henry chuckled and pulled her close to him. His hands were on her waist, and he could smell her hair. 

“Annalisa, I—“

“CAMPERS!!!” shrieked a speaker. “Challenge time!”

The two sighed and joined the campers around Chris. The group was still uneasy. Nervous glances passed between campers. The fire had burned the trust between teammates. 

“What a beautiful day it is!” Chris said smiling all-to-joyfully, “a perfect day for an underwater scuba challenge!”

“Chris, we almost just died. Can we maybe have a break?” Jerry asked. 

“Nope, plus we are 100% sure Astrid was responsible and she is fully cooperating with the police. Now, for your challenge: you will have your entire team except one in scuba suits. Their job is to make it to the Chris McLean sea shrine on the ocean floor. Once they reach it, they must leave a handprint and sign their name in the sand. While they’re swimming, your loner teammate will be supplying your oxygen supply.” Chris patted on a dinky little air pump. “First team to have everyone up, excluding your oxygen supplier, wins.”

“Let’s begin by choosing your little air pumpers,” Chris said. “I’d recommend someone athletic, strong, and not Tia.”

“Shut up,” Tia said.

The two teams formed a huddle. In the Loyal Lions huddle, the choice wasn’t certain.

“I’m clearly the strongest,” Donna said.

“No, no, no, no, I can’t do water,” Neil said. “I can’t swim, plus there’s definitely sharks down there. Nope, I’ll do the air.”

“Well, that toddler won’t be much use if he’s scared of water,” Celia said. Donna was about to argue when Celia turned to Chris and announced, “We choose Neil.”

The other team was a little confused, but they weren’t about to argue with their decision.

“We choose Henry,” Annalisa announced squeezing his arm.

“Be safe,” he whispered.

Annalisa smiled while Jade gagged.

The campers slipped on tight grey swimsuits, large, oversized goggles, and flippers. Lined up on the dock, the swimmers prepared to dive in.

“The challenge begins in 3, 2 , 1!” Chris said followed by his air horn.

Eleven simulatenous splashes rippled from the ocean. Neil and Henry hammered their pumps rapidly. Underwater, most campers swam in pairs: Celia and Peter, Valerie and Todd, Kyle and Jerry, and Tia and Annalisa. Donna, Matthew, and Jade glanced at each other. Accepting that they were no one’s pair, they swam as a group of three away from the others.

Annalisa and Jade swam together silently. It felt like there was more than just water between, the tension from their fight floated between them. Aimlessly, the two drifted down through the water. Distracting herself, Tia looked ahead at a group of sea turtles. The family of green creatures swam in unison, each carrying food. When Tia got a closer look, she saw one was carrying a Chris Doll.

Tia tapped on Annalisa’s shoulder and pointed to the turtles. With a nod, Tia joined Annalisa in following the family of turtles. As their journey went on, they saw dolphins, sharks, crabs, and seahorses. They were astounded to get so close the many creatures.

Tia smiled. She was glad to be experiencing this with Annalisa. She was glad to have her friend.

. . .

Henry and Neil pumped away in the hot sun. Sweating and panting, their paces began to slow.

In the comforts of the shade, Chris sipped a drink on a lawn chair. “Hmm, you two don’t seem to care about your teammates need for oxygen.”

“It’s so hot, Chris, you gotta give us some of that drink,” Neil begged.

“Hmm, nope!” Chris said. “Funny abusing camper jokes, am I right D,” Chris said nudging Counselor Diana.

“Haha, you’re so funny,” she laughed coldly. 

. . .

The water was a barrier between Todd and Valerie, but they really didn’t need words to talk. A point in the direction Todd wanted to go, a tap on Valerie’s shoulder to get her attention, a hand squeeze that says I care about you. The two meandered through the waves, but the two just couldn’t find the shrine. Valerie tensed as something lingered with her and Todd. Someone was watching them. Valerie looked to see Counselor Diana near the shore. She wore a red lifeguard suit, a suit that is supposed to mean safety, like a warrior wears battle armor.

Valerie grabbed Todd’s hand and pointed. The two stared back at her until she drifted away. Valerie swam after her. Valerie was furious after their fight. She wished she had a knife to return her the favor. They went on through the water for a few minutes before Diana all but disappeared. Instead of Diana, they found something else. A vast gray chamber in the ocean. Upon closer examination, it was a sunken submarine.

Curiously, the two entered.

. . .

Wendy beamed at the sun while she stood on the dock. Maybe her pale skin would finally tan. She wanted to look good for the camera. She was so surprised when she called back and asked to be on the seventh season of Total Drama: Total Drama Searing Summer.

Pauline nudged Wendy’s stomach with her elbow and Wendy turned to see Pauline slip a crab in Mason’s shorts.

“Agh!” Mason screamed. “My butt!”

Wendy and Pauline snickered. Chris pushed Mason in the water who, because of his weight, made a large splash.

“Stop hogging my camera time, Mason!” Chris said.

Wendy had noticed Chris had a sinister part to his personality. He could be almost sadistic. Maybe it was just for the show. Besides, Wendy was having a good time. Gossiping with Pauline and dreaming of kissing Brent, Wendy was living the real camp experience. She breathed in the summer air and turned her attention back to Chris.

“Campers!” he said, “It’s challenge time!

. . .

“It’s so nice being here on the eighth season of Total Drama,” Kyle thought as he and Jerry swam away from the other groups.

Kyle and Jerry zipped through the ocean in search of Chris’s shrine. Jerry also made sure to keep an eye on Kyle knowing he gets distracted very easily. The two rounded a corner and came across a field of coral reefs. They were every color on the spectatacle, and they formed a circle around a small clearing. In the center, a 10 foot, silver Chris statue towered.

Jerry hastily swam over and was happy to see they were the first two to reach the shrine. Jerry patted his hand in the sand and signed his name. He looked up and sighed. Kyle was gone. Shrugging, Jerry accepted that he wasn’t Kyle’s babysitter. He discreetly propelled to the shore and pulled himself onto the docks.

“Congratulations Jerry! You’re the first one back,” Chris exclaimed.

“One less person to pump for,” Henry said. He and Neil were worked to the bone. The two eagerly waited for others to join.

. . .

Wendy maneuvered her submarine speedily. She was last person on her team left, but she still hadn’t found Chris’s shrine. If she lost it for her team, she was surely going home. She just had to hope Andrew was slower. She rounded a corner, and then she finally saw it amidst a field of coral reefs. She sped directly toward the statue. She was desperately relieved. It was too early for her summer to end. She pushed harder on the pedal—

Crash! Wendy’s submarine spun out of control and began sinking. Before she could regain control of her submarine, she heard Chris’s voice boom.

“Andrew wins it for the Ravenous Ravens!”

Wendy couldn’t help the tears when she began sobbing. She had failed it for her team, and she was surely going home. Unfortunately, that was the least of her worries. She stayed in her submarine waiting for Chris to save her. She had tried turning the submarine back on, but Andrew had really damaged the fragile machine. So she waited, and she waited some more. After a few hours, she realized something was wrong. Someone would say something right? Someone had to get her.

Chris’s voice reappeared over the speaker.

“After some campers rudely complained, I’d like to tell you that I will most definitely come and get you, Wendy. However, you’re eliminated.”

Wendy had expected this and had already come to terms with her elimination. She was just ready to be out of there.

Chris never came.

. . .

Tia and Annalisa spotted Valerie and Todd in the distance. They watched the two enter an old submarine. Believing the shrine was inside, the two followed, but at a safe distance. The inside of the submarine was shocking. Scratches and marks covered the walls. Some writings said “Help me” and some were just vulgarities aimed at Chris.

Ahead, Valerie and Todd swam into the main room, but there was just the same thing there as every other room. They were ready to leave when they saw one final door. There was a light peering out from the door. Someone was inside.

. . .

Celia and Peter swam around the perimeter of the island. It has been at least an hour, and Celia was starting to worry.

~ Confessional: Celia

“Valerie and Todd have been drifting away from me and towards Donna. I’m worried I might go home if we lose this challenge. Luckily, I have Peter. If I make it seem as if he lost the challenge for us, they’ll vote him off instead of me. What? It’s just a game. I’m being playing nice to him for the game!”

~ Confessional ends.

Peter and Celia were able to communicate through drawings in the underwater sand. Though, Peter was much better at it than Celia. Celia drew an arrow pointing to another area, suggesting they go over there. Celia noticed in her peripheral vision that jellyfish were riding the current to that exact spot. This would be perfect. As they searched around, two jellyfish came behind Peter. Celia watched as they were about to latch on to him when—

Celia dove over and pushed Peter out of the way. The two latched onto her and her skin began to sting. She flailed around in a panic until the two jellyfish let go of her.

~ Confessional: Celia

“I saved him strictly for strategic reasons. It wouldn’t be smart to send him home over someone else. This is a game. There are no feelings in games!”

~ Confessional ends.

Celia rubbed her red spots when she looked up to see Peter. He excitedly pointed to a clearing where a statue of none other than Chris McClean stood. The two rushed over. They noticed Jerry had already arrived there, but being second and third was satisfactory. The two signed their names, stamped the sand, and surfaced at the dock.

“Celia and Peter finish first on the Loyal Lions!” Chris announced. “Celia looks like she got into a tangle with some jellyfish.”

“God, I need some rash cream,” she said going back to the Loyal Lions cabin. She itched and scratched her whole body the entire way there. 

Applying the creamy blue slime to her stings, Celia sat in her thoughts. She should be glad after Astrid went home, but she still felt uneasy. The island wasn’t how she imagined. A lively place where she diabolically controlled her other campers. It was like high school. A clump of a bunch of people where she carried the feeling knowing she’s not popular.

“Hey Celia,” Peter said. “Thanks for taking two jellyfish for me. I’m glad to have a real friend like you.”

Celia smiles back. “No problem, Peter. That’s all I want to be. A real friend.”

. . .

Gulping, Valerie grabbed the door handle with one hand and Todd’s hand with the other. There was no telling who or what could be on the other side. She opened the door.

The room was like an air bubble. Since the submarine was sunken at an angle. This one small room still had air. Entering was like passing through a magical barrier of oxygen. The walls of the room had writing, but it was different. The words came together like a coherent story instead of scribbles. Valerie had her eyes set on the chair facing away from them. Someone was sitting there.

“Hello Valerie and Todd,” Counselor Diana said spinning the chair to face them. The two immediately prepared for a fight, but Counselor Diana held up a hand. “I’m not here for that. I’m here so you understand. I want you to see the real me.”

“Do you remember last season? Such a blast, one of the highest rated reality shows of the year.” As Counselor Diana talked, Valerie began reading the messages on the walls. A girl was left here by Chris. She was left to die.

“Chris said he saved Wendy! I watched the show!” Valerie shouted, but even she didn’t believe herself. This submarine was Wendy’s tomb that Chris had sealed. The evidence was everywhere. 

“Chris is a liar. He let someone die because he was lazy!” Counselor Diana was crying now. She wiped her face in an attempt to hide the only emotion she had shown to the campers.

“Did you know her?” Valerie asked softly, trying to do what Counselor Diana wanted. Trying to understand. 

“I am her. My name is Wendy Marie Willows and Chris took everything from me!” Counselor Diana had descended into hysteric sobbing. Valerie had known her as a violent woman, but she couldn’t help but feel bad. She looked puny and pathetic.

“Why did you try and kill us then?” Todd asked. “That isn’t our fault!”

“I wanted Chris to be jailed for the murderer that he is. I planted the cards in Chris’s room before Astrid’s bag. Chris’s lawyers came and talked to the cops though. Because Chris wasn’t liable for the camper’s lives, it really didn’t matter if he set the fire or not. They didn’t even search his place. I should have stuck to killling him like with the helicopter.”

She stood up and faced Valerie in the midst of her outbursts. “Do you understand why I’m like this?” Valerie did. Valerie saw her for who she was. A scared, vengeful girl only a year older than her. 

“I-I. Wendy, killing isn’t the right way to do this. Why don’t we all go and talk to Chris and—“

Her eyes popped back with pure insanity. “Oh, you’re going to tell him, aren’t you? I knew you couldn’t be trusted. Maybe you need to learn what it felt like to be me to REALLY understand.”

Wendy ran past them and dove out of the room and into the water. The two desperately went after her, but she swam at an inhumanely fast speed. The two watched as she severed their air tubes and sealed the only window exit.

They were trapped in the submarine. Valerie noticed there wasn’t just two severed tubes, but four. Annalisa and Tia swam around the corner looking panicked. Valerie immediately motioned them to follow her, and the four each entered the single room with air.

“What’s happening?” Annalisa asked.

“Wendy— I mean, Counselor Diana locked us in here. Todd and I found about her plans to murder Chris. She’s trying to kill us.”

“It was her all along,” Tia gasped.

“We need to find a way out of here,” Todd said. He picked up a chair and slammed it against the window, but it didn’t budge. The chair, however, snapped in half. “How did Counselor Diana escape? These are unbreakable!”

. . .

Wendy was dying. She had found food in the emergency pack, and, despite her best efforts to ration it, she had been out of food for two weeks. She had come to terms with her death; the unjustness and the wickedness of Chris. She was ready to die.

Wendy pounded on the window again and again with chair. She had tried to break it for the past three weeks, but still it stood firm.

She curled up into a ball and tried to ease her restless stomach. As she prepared for the end, she burst into tears again. She would never see Mom, Dad, Zander, or Amy. She would never go shopping again with Mom. No more fishing with Dad. No video games with Zander. No more TV with Amy.

She smiled as she remembered her beloved family. She truly loved them with all her heart. Amy had been cheering Wendy to go on Total Drama the moment she was old enough. The two were reality show obsessed. Amy really watched any shows. Wendy thought of the times when she and Amy would sit for hours and just watch TV and talk. She thought of her smile. Her fun little quirks. Her annoying catchphrase “That’s what Diana says.” Amy always watched this survivalist show where this batty lady named Diana staged insanely dangerous situations. She’d escape by the skin of her teeth because of some stupid survivalist fact that would never help anyone.

Wait a minute.

Wendy concentrated. Season 4, Episode 15. Diana was captured by drug-dealing, puppy ring owners. Stuck in their basement, she escaped by disassembling a spark plug in their air conditioning system. She created “ninja rocks” with the ceramic and was able to break the one window in the room and escape.

Wendy pulled herself to her feet. It was nuts, but she had to try. She pried one of the panels on the inner wall of the sub. She did not know exactly what a spark plug looked like, but it seemed like the only way out.

Luckily, Diana’s voice was in her head. “It should always be right next to the engine.” Wendy searched and searched and finally located the engine. The machinery looked impossibly complicated. Then, she saw it, a little machine that looked almost like a light bulb, just like in the show. It was a spark plug. She disassembled it and grabbed the ceramic bits.

“The ceramic part has unusual properties. I promise you it could break the toughest glass.” The episode felt so fresh in her mind. Wendy turned to a window.

“Here goes nothing.” She hurled the cermaic bit at the center of the window. She heard a satisfying smash from the shattering glass. Then, the submarine immediately started filling with water. Wendy couldn’t fight the current, she had to wait until some of the submarine was flooded. When the water level was just above the window, Wendy took and deep breath swam out of the window.

Diana was still with her, guiding her every step of the way. “If you’re ever unsure which way is up when you are underwater, look for bubbles. They always float up.” An air bubble escaped from the window. Wendy surged up with a fury like no other. Her lungs burned, but she held on knowing she had a long ways to go. The submarine had sunken far down. “If you can’t remember any of these,” Diana said at the end of each episode. “Believe in yourself, and trust your instincts. You are a survivalist.” Wendy kicked mightily until fresh air surrounded her. She gasped in and breathed the beautiful oxygen.

Freedom. She continued to take in the air violently. It was so fresh and pure. She began crying again, but these tears were of joy. As her breathing slowed and she began to calm down, she set her focus on the island. It was empty, meaning the season had ended. The island still, however, had cabins to sleep in and food to eat. She swam to the island despite her despairing tiredness. Her body said stop, but she kept going. She trusted her instincts. She was a survivalist.

Wendy reached the island and for the first time in weeks she felt the soft, smooth sand. She picked herself up and walked to the grass, another exciting feeling on her feet. She kept walking and walking until she reached the forest. She found a bright, ripe blueberry bush and began devouring the fruit.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” she said wiping blueberry smuck off her mouth. While she didn’t know what the future held, she knew that if she got out of that submarine, she could conquer anything.

And she definitely did. She befriended the island’s animals, ate fruit and the occasional animal, and simply survived. She survived the cool fall, the frigid winter, and the blooming spring.

Then, the next summer came. One day, Chris arrived at the island with his crew and began setting up for the season. People were here. Wendy was ecstatic; this was her chance off the island. Wendy waved over to Chris and his crew. Chris turned and looked at her strangely.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Chris said.

Suddenly, rage engulfed Wendy. He had the audacity to ask who she was. He left her to die down there and couldn’t bother to remember her name. While she so desperately wanted off the island, she realized her time there had not ended.

“Production hired me and sent me out early. They wanted to add another face to the cast. I’m going to be the camp counselor!” She said boldly.

Chris nodded. If he was too lazy to save Wendy, he was definitely too lazy to doublecheck her blatant lies.

“And your name is...”

God, he really didn’t remember her name. The name of the person he had almost killed. Wendy paused. She couldn’t let Chris recognize her. Wendy had to leave. It was time for her to become someone else.

“Diana. Counselor Diana.” she said strongly. 

“Welcome, Counselor Diana, to Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”

. . .

Wendy gasped as she pulled herself onto the island. Deep inside, she felt a little guilty about leaving those campers in the submarine. They weren’t the ones who did anything to her, but she had to weigh her options. If they told Chris, it was over for her. Maybe they’ll find a way out. Wendy had thought she was hopeless once before too. 

“Diana!” Chris shouted excitedly.

“What it is it?” she asked.

“Could you go refill my lemonade?”

She smiled. “Sure Chris, anything for you.”

. . .

Jade, Donna, and Matthew searched for the shrine with a small sense of panic. They each knew they had been in the water too long. Matthew was panicked most of all. The ocean made him feel very claustrophobic. That’s only adding on to the many things he knows can go wrong underwater. Not to mention, Neil was slacking on the air and Matthew was starting to feel a little lightheaded. He was swimming through a field of jagged rocks when one cut across this finger.

He took a deep breath. It was just a cut, he could deal with it when he gets about water. 

But what if it’s infected. The oceans is a dirty place. Think of all the microbial ocean parasites lurking in this cut. Matthew tried to focus on looking for the shrine, but he was losing it.

“God, I just need to breath real air.” Matthew began pulling off his air pump to Donna and Jade’s complete confusion. It was becoming loose when Donna grabbed Matthew’s arms and stopped him from pulling his air pump off. Matthew did not know how to make Donna understand that he needed air, but not that air. He was panicked and delirious, but most of all embarrassed. Things weren’t getting better. He missed Kira so badly. He wanted to leave.

Jade tightened the air pump back on his mouth much to Matthew’s displeasure. She grabbed his hand and took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Matthew did the same. Over and over again, the two kept on breathing. Eventually, the went back on the path.

~ Confessional: Matthew

“I don’t even why these people even put up with me. I’m such a deadweight to my team. But they still chose to be nice. But why?”

~ Confessional ends.

Jade rounds a corner and points excitedly to a large statue of Chris. The three quickly signed their names and left their handprints. Donna and Matthew shot up, but Jade lingered at the bottom. She very well noticed Annalisa and Tia hadn’t gotten there. Risky as it was, she went off to search for them.

. . .

The four huddled nervously in the one safe room on the submarine. Annalisa and Tia had been filled in on every detail and were shocked.

“This room doesn’t have an infinite amount of oxygen. We’re going to need to find a way out,” Valerie said.

“Diana or Wendy or whoever did it, so we can too,” Annalisa said.

Todd attempted to kick open a window. Annalisa and Tia resorted to screaming while Valerie flipped through the instruction manual of the submaine. She noticed there were little notes. Definitely written by Wendy. They were no help though, just desperate jibberish.

“Guys, we need to put our heads together. The only entrance to the sub was through a window. That means Wendy escaped by breaking a window. These are almost unbustable, but she must have found something,” Valerie said.

Tears began welling in Tia’s eyes, “It’s no use! We’re going to die in here!” Just as Wendy did, Tia began to break down into sobs.

“You’re wrong,” Valerie said raising her chin. “And Wendy is wrong too if she thinks we’re just going to let her kill us. This is all just going to be another chapter in my book. We’re so much more than her little victims.”

“If we don’t make it out of this, Annalisa, I’m so sorry for being a bad friend,” Tia wrapped her arms around Annalisa. Unable to control herself, Annalisa burst into tears as she embraced your friend.

“You’re not a bad friend, Tia. I love you. I’m sorry for being so secretive about Henry. You’ve been nothing but kind to me and I’ve been awful back.” 

Todd turned to look at Valerie. Suddenly, Valerie was hit with a cold wave of sadness. She wrapped her arms around Todd and put her chin on his shoulder so he wouldn’t see her cry.

“This is really how we go out,” Todd whispered.

“No, I won’t let that happen. I promise. Teammate’s promise,” Valerie said. She turned her attention back to the manual. She realized it was getting hard to read. Her head was pounding and the words seemed to jump off the thin manual’s pages. They were losing oxygen fast between the four of them.

“I’ve been looking at the speakers of the submarine. Looking to see if we can activate them and call for help. If we put our brains together, this could save us.”

The four faced the tangled mess of wires Valerie revealed to them. Gulping, Tia began.

“The speaker needs electricity. I’ll look for a source. You guys need to find some kind of route with wires from the speaker to the source. I can shock the system for a moment and we’ll have seconds to use the speaker.”

The group anxiously worked at the mess of wires like their lives depended on it, which they did.

. . .

Jade had been looping the island for hours looking for the two. She even checked back at the shrine to see if they found it, but each time, they were gone. Jade would never admit it, but she was worried. Not to mention, she was tired from swimming around and around. Sitting on a rock for a moment, Jade’s eyes began to flutter. She quickly fell asleep when an inhuman sound escaped from the rock.

That rock was no rock. It was a shark. Ten times as big as any fish Jade had ever seen, the shark began snapping at her with its huge jaws. Unbeknownst to Jade, it was still a baby shark just trying to play. Jade torpedoed away from the creature which followed her and snapped at her playfully.

. . .

Todd held Valerie’s hand as they desperately traced the wires all around. His eyes were heavy, and he wanted to sleep. Annalisa stared hard at the mess. It was no video game, but it wasn’t too different from puzzles she’d solved. It’s just one League of Legends battle.<

“I found it!” Annalisa exclaimed holding a slightly-torn red wire.

“I’m going to shock the wire. Valerie, get ready to scream for help.” Tia said. There was a jolt and snap as Tia’s hair shot straight up from static.

Feeling the speaker vibrate, Valerie shouted, “HELP US!” Her shout vibrated the entire submarine. Clearly, it had worked. 

Jade unmistakably heard a shout in the distance. Valerie was in trouble. Jade changed her direction as she ran from the snapping shark. The shark always seem to speed up and slow down almost as if the chase was some sick game. Jade finally came across a small sunken submarine she hadn’t noticed before. This must have been where Valerie was.

Exhausted, Jade swam towards a window, but was not able to break it. She turned around preparing to be torn apart by the shark, but it playfully bumped her stomach and swam away. It circled Jade and playfully bumped her again. Jade was confused, but grateful not to be brunch.

Bump! Bump! Bump! Jade turned around to see Valerie, Todd, Annalisa, and Tia desperately pounding on the window all screaming for help. Jade nodded. She first tried prying the window open, but it was never going to budge. Furiously, she smacked on the metal. In her rage, she cut her finger on a sharp piece. While the baby shark had swam away, smelling Jade’s blood, it turned right around and shot towards Jade.

Jade exploded in panic, but soon remembered her first day at camp when Valerie had tricked a lion into charging into a cabin. She lingered in front of the window hoping the shark would smash through it. She motioned for the others to move back. Confidently, she waited until the shark was almost right in front of her. Then she dove down. For the second time, a window on the submarine was broken. The shark, although terrifying, playfully bumped Todd on the stomach who gave the oversized fish a greatful pat.

Then, the group of four dove out like rockets. They were ready to go up when Jade wrapped her arms around four. Then, she quickly brought them to the shrine where they all signed their names and then surfaced.

Jade reached the dock first, followed by Todd, then Annalisa, then Tia, then Valerie. Valerie panted, finally able to fill her lungs with oxygen. She didn’t care she was last and had lost it for her team. Todd wrapped his arms around her and squeezed making Valerie’s heart flutter. But something still wasn’t right. Wendy’s eyes bore into Valerie’s skull. Valerie let go of Todd and turned to her in a blind fury.

 “You little—“ a long bleep followed as Valerie shouted at Diana.

</p> Diana’s face betrayed nothing. “Heavens Valerie, that is no way to talk to your counselor.”

</p> “That _woman_ trapped us in a submarine and tried to kill us,” Valerie shouted at Chris.

</p> “She’s right!” “It’s true Chris!” “She’s a monster!” Valerie’s friends were behind her.

</p> “What are they talking about D?” Chris yawned.

</p> “I confiscated cell phones from them. You know, dramatic teenagers.”

</p> “You’re so right D. Shut up children and let me talk.” Chris said to the campers disbelief. “The challenge is over, and we will now begin the campfire ceremony.”

</p> Valerie desperately addressed her team. “Guys, I’m so sorry I lost it for us, but please don’t—“

</p> “Valerie, the Loyal Lions won.” Chris said.

</p> “But I was last.”

</p> “No you weren’t. Kyle is.”

</p> Valerie sighed with relief. The Raggedy Rats sighed with frustration. 

</p> “Better go grab him,” Chris said. “I could never just leave a camper in the ocean.” Wendy clenched her fist. 

. . .

While most of the Raggedy Rats sat on their logs in front of their fire, Kyle stayed in the ocean surrounded by seahorses. Each of the seahorses has wrapped themselves around him and let Kyle pet their scaly bodies.

Chris smiled delightedly before the campers. “This one seemed to be a no-brainer, but is that really how it turned out? Jerry and Henry, take a marshmallow.”

The two each grabbed their safety. Even though they expected to be safe, it was always a relief.  
.

“Come on up Matthew, Tia, and Annalisa.” The three excitedly joined the other rats. Jade felt her stomach drop. Kyle had botched the challenge. They wouldn’t vote her out, would they? Keeping her consistently nonchalant attitude, she yawned, but she felt anything but safe.

“The last marshmallow goes to...”

Jade looked directly at Chris waiting for his lips to form her name. Kyle splashed joyfully around.

“Jade.”

“Like, duh,” she chuckled, grabbing her marshmallow.

“KYLE,” Chris called down to the ocean. “You’re going home.”

Kyle replied with a thumb-up as he tickled a seahorse’s chin.

“Let’s go Barbara, you too Samuel, and of course you Lasanga,” Kyle said as he turned and swam off from the island with his very good friends.

Chris turned to the camera ready to finish off the episode. “Looks like Kyle belongs to the ocean now. Who will continue to stay afloat, and who will sink in the next episode of Total Drama Camp Catastrophe!”


End file.
